You could tell Jesús Luzardo was in a groove from the start. That was exactly what the Phillies needed. They entered Sunday trying to salvage the final game of a three-game set against the Blue Jays to close out Alumni Weekend. They also needed length from their left-handed starter after a we ek that had pushed the bullpen close to its limit. For seven innings, Luzardo gave them everything they could have asked for in the Phillies’ 7-6, 12-inning win at Citizens Bank Park. The 28-year-old, in the middle of the best season of his career, again showed the type of presence that can take over a game. Some of that comes from his stuff. Some of it comes from the competitive fire he brings every start. But when Luzardo is right, his pace becomes part of the problem for hitters. In a sport built more than ever around pace of play, Luzardo at his best is exactly what the league wants. On Sunday afternoon, he was routinely delivering pitches with nine seconds left on the pitch clock, quickly resetting and attacking again as soon as the hitter engaged. That is when Luzardo feels most like himself. “I’m at my best when I’m working fast,” Luzardo said. “The pitch clock helps a little bit. I like to think through things, but at the same time, I like to work fast.” When his whole repertoire is working, led by a dominant sweeper and a high-90s four-seam fastball, that pace can make an at-bat feel overwhelming. That was clear early against Toronto. The sweeper, which produced nine of his 12 strikeouts, has changed the way Luzardo can attack. He can land it. He can bury it. He can use it against both sides. “It’s just another weapon,” Luzardo said. “I have a lot of confidence in how I can throw it early in counts, I can throw it late in counts.” Luzardo hit a few bumps in the fourth and fifth, allowing a run in each inning, but he regained control of the game. He started nearly three-quarters of the 27 hitters he faced with a first-pitch strike. He carried that rhythm through seven innings, allowing four hits and two runs while striking out 12 against a Blue Jays offense that had bothered the Phillies all weekend. Over his last 10 starts, Luzardo has posted a 2.04 ERA, the third-lowest mark in the majors during that span. He has struck out a league-leading 96 batters in 70 2/3 innings, posted a 0.95 WHIP and held opponents to a .508 OPS, the lowest mark in the National League. HIS OUTING LOOKED IMPORTANT… The Phillies have been caught in a dangerous bullpen cycle lately. Their rotation had worked through a stretch of rain delays, shortened starts and early exits. That forced the same group of relievers into games over and over again. Luzardo gave them the start that should have helped ease that strain. Seven innings. Two runs. Twelve strikeouts. A three-run lead with six outs to go. And still, the bullpen turned it into another long day for itself. Even after Luzardo did his part, the Phillies could not get the ball to Jhoan Duran with a lead. Orion Kerkering struggled again Sunday, allowing three runs in the eighth as Toronto tied the game. He has posted an 11.74 ERA and a 2.09 WHIP over his last 10 outings. That forced Duran into another non-save situation, with Tim Mayza, Brooks Raley and Caleb Kilian eventually following. The Phillies got length from a starter and still had to cover five innings with their bullpen because the bridge to the ninth collapsed. Kilian experienced an oblique injury, which “didn’t look good,” according to Mattingly. That’s not a positive sign. The Phils may need to call upon rookie Alex McFarlane from Triple-A if Kilian hits the IL. With that, Luzardo understood the state of the staff going in. He wanted to keep going deeper. “I wouldn’t describe it as pressure, but definitely felt the want to,” Luzardo said. “I wanted to go as deep as possible. I was kind of lobbying to go even farther. Our bullpen’s been grinding.” That is the frustrating part for the Phillies. It is not on Duran. It speaks to how often they have failed to create the right path to him. They have played 22 games since the All-Star break, and Duran has had only two save opportunities. Right now, neither Kerkering nor José Alvarado has been reliable enough in high-leverage spots. Until that changes, even adding one of the best closers in baseball can only solve so much. Don Mattingly did not put all of Sunday’s eighth inning on Kerkering, though. “The Kerky inning where he gets two outs and four hits, I don’t think anything got over 70 miles an hour,” Mattingly said. “It’s crazy what’s going on, but again, we hang in there.” This is the part of the year people call the dog days, but the concern is more specific than fatigue. A struggling relief group cannot keep creating extra work for itself and expect to hold up through September. Mattingly’s bullpen was running on fumes by the end of the series. “Everybody out there right now,” Mattingly said. “At some point, hopefully we’re going to be able to reset.” SCHWARBER BREAKS THROUGH Are the Phillies too reliant on Kyle Schwarber’s power? That question has lingered lately. Schwarber had not homered since July 18, and the Phillies went 7-12 in the stretch that followed. Even with the 17-game homer drought, he still entered Sunday tied for the National League lead with 33 homers. Schwarber took over the NL home run lead on May 8 against the Rockies and has held the top spot, or at least a share of it, for 94 straight days. On Sunday, he finally broke through again. In his second at-bat of the afternoon, Schwarber got ahead 2-1 against Shane Bieber, stayed back on a changeup and drove it the other way into the first row in left field. A three-run homer. Exactly the type of support a locked-in Luzardo could use. And when Luzardo ran into trouble, Schwarber answered again. After the Blue Jays scored in back-to-back innings, Schwarber came up in the fifth, got into a 2-0 count and stayed aggressive. Bieber dropped a knuckle curve below the zone, but it was in Schwarber’s low-and-in damage area. He did not miss it. Schwarber sent it into the right-field seats for his second homer of the game, pushing the Phillies’ lead back to three. The lead did not hold, but Schwarber’s swing had at least returned. On a day when the Phillies needed a jolt, he gave them two. “I got some good pitches to swing at and was able to get the hard contact,” Schwarber said. “It’s just staying with the routine, staying with the cage work and going out there and really trying to stay in the zone.” Bryce Harper also played a quieter role in the offense’s persistence. He walked four times, extending innings and repeatedly giving the Phillies chances to apply pressure behind him. The Phillies did not hit their way cleanly through the whole afternoon, but they kept creating traffic. On this kind of day, that was nearly as important as the power. THE WALK-OFF It felt like a never-ending contest. Two teams kept putting up zeroes in extras, finding ways not to finish it. In the 11th, the Phillies nearly did, but Garrett Stubbs, running for Schwarber, was thrown out at the plate by Blue Jays right fielder Nathan Lukes. Then Toronto took the lead in the 12th against Kilian, putting the Phillies in one more hole. This time, they climbed out. With runners on the corners, Bryson Stott lined an RBI single to tie the game. Toronto then intentionally walked Alec Bohm, who has struggled in those spots, to load the bases. That brought up Derek Hill, who had also struggled Sunday. Five days after a scary collision with the center-field wall, Hill ended an exhausting series with another “blessing” and memorable moment in his brief Phillies tenure. “It’s great to be able to come through with the boys,” Hill said. “Luz went out there and pitched an incredible game. I think we went out there and proved that we have a little bit of grit.” The Phillies had watched the game bend in the wrong direction after Luzardo left. They had failed to get a three-run lead to Duran. They had been doubled up at the plate with a chance to win it an inning earlier. But they still found a way to put the series away. Mattingly saw enough in that final push to take something from it, even after all the bullpen stress that came before. “We hung in,” Mattingly said. “A little Utley Philly toughness today. You kind of get kicked in the gut and then still bounce back. It’s what you like to see.” It was not clean. It took longer than it should have. And it did not erase the bullpen questions that carried through the weekend. But after the way the first two games against Toronto ended, the Phillies needed the win more than they needed style points. Luzardo put it simply. “The last three days have been a real grind,” he said. “We take the win, and we just move on.” INTERESTING ROAD AHEAD The Phillies closed the homestand with a needed win and enter a unique stretch over the final 43 games of the season. Their next 18 games come against teams currently outside the playoff picture, including this upcoming Midwest trip against the Cardinals and Twins. Then the schedule stiffens. Thirteen straight games against Arizona, Atlanta, Houston and Atlanta again, all teams currently in playoff position. After that, the Phillies finish with six games against Washington and the Mets, two non-playoff teams, and six more against Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, both first-place clubs. That puts real weight on the next three weeks. The Phillies have a chance to build momentum against teams they should beat before the schedule turns tougher again. If they do not, they could put themselves in a much tighter spot against some of the better teams in baseball. ...read more read less