KANSAS CITY – Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the sweeper is still a relatively new pitch for Jesus Luzardo. He did not start throwing it until joining the Phillies in 2025. In less than two full seasons, the pitch has become a major weapon for him. Luzardo pitched six innings of one -run ball and was backed by three home runs in a 6-1 win over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on the nation’s 250th birthday Saturday night. The 28-year-old left-hander gave up just four hits and walked none. He struck out nine batters, six on sweepers. Seventy of his 125 strikeouts this season have come on sweepers. In all, Luzardo threw 95 pitches and generated 19 swings and misses, including a career-high 15 on the sweeper. The pitch averaged 87.1 mph. His four-seam fastball topped out at 98.7 mph. “Early in the year, I lost some feel for it,” Luzardo said of his sweeper. “I almost feel I threw it so much I lost the feel for it. But lately, the last five or six starts, it’s felt like it’s back and maybe even can get better.” Luzardo credited pitching coaches Caleb Cotham and Mark Lowy for suggesting a tweak in the positioning of his wrist to get the pitch back on track. Luzardo continued to shine away from Citizens Bank Park. He is 5-0 with a 1.54 ERA in 10 road starts this season as opposed to 2-4 with a 6.60 ERA in eight starts at home. The victory gave the Phils an all-time record of 107-107 on Independence Day. “Zeus set the tone,” manager Don Mattingly said. “He was on the attack early. That’s what you want when you come into a series.” After Luzardo’s exit, Jonathan Bowlan, Orion Kerkering and Tim Mayza combined on three scoreless innings to seal the win. Bowlan, who was traded from the Royals to the Phillies last winter, struck out three in the seventh. In all, Phillies pitching racked up 15 strikeouts and did not walk a batter while the offense out-hit Kansas City, 12-5. “When you punch out 15 and don’t walk anyone, it’s kind of a nice little recipe for success,” Mattingly said. Luzardo and the Phillies got all the offense they needed in the top of the fourth inning when the bottom half of the lineup came through against Kansas City starter Michael Wacha. Bryson Stott stroked a one-out single and J.T. Realmuto followed with a two-run homer on a line drive to left. Two pitches later, Gabriel Rincones Jr. cracked a solo homer to right to make it 3-0. The Royals got one back against Luzardo in the bottom of the inning before Alec Bohm went deep to center in the sixth to put the Phils back on top by three runs. The Phils tacked on with runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Before the game, it was announced that Brandon Marsh, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Jhoan Duran and Cristopher Sanchez all made the National League All-Star team. Mattingly will be part of the coaching staff. But the biggest offensive contributions in the win came from players who will not be in the All-Star Game. “I’ve said it before, I feel like if we’re going to be any good, we need contributions up and down the lineup,” Mattingly said. “It can’t always be Harp and Schwarber hitting home runs and driving in a bunch of runs. It’s got to be the whole roster. Obviously, Marsh has been huge behind Harper and he’s swinging it well. Stott is driving in runs, Bohm is driving in runs. J.T. with a big homer. (Justin) Crawford’s been swinging well. If Gabe gets going, that’s another part of our lineup no one thinks about. If that 7, 8, 9 part of the lineup starts putting runs on the board, it starts to put pressure all the way through the lineup and that’s really what you’re looking for.” The Phillies are 41-20 under Mattingly, who took over for Rob Thomson when the team was 9-19. Aaron Nola pitches Sunday afternoon against right-hander Luinder Avila. ...read more read less