The Philadelphia Phillies must’ve somehow all closed their eyes and forgotten that Jesus Luzardo was still on the mound.
How on earth can you otherwise explain what happened on Saturday in Philly against the Brewers?
The Phillies left Luzardo in to throw 3.1 innings and allow 12 runs before pulling him.
That’s mismanagement of the highest order.
It’s not about his Cy Young candidacy, which certainly took a gigantic blow with the nightmare stat line.
It’s about the health of his left arm.
Luzardo threw 76 pitches before departing, which works out to 7.6 pitches per out recorded.
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One of the more modern tenets of arm health has to do with high-stress pitches. It’s said that pitches thrown under low stress are less likely to lead to injury than pitches thrown under high stress.
Luzardo allowed 12 hits and walked three and even committed a balk. Six of the runs came on a pair of home runs, both by Rhys Hoskins.
Why, on May 31 or any other date, was Luzardo around to allow a second homer to Hoskins when already trailing by more than a touchdown?
This is how you get a pitcher injured. This is the kind of dumb pitching usage that should’ve gone out of baseball a long time ago.
Hopefully, Luzardo is fine and throws a gem next time out and everyone laughs this off.
But pitchers get hurt even after the best long outings. Johan Santana’s legendary Mets no-hitter may have been the beginning of the end for him after a career-high pitch count, and that was to make history.
What was this for? To see if Luzardo knew how to pitch with a monster deficit?
There’s no good explanation, and the Phillies should be ashamed. Philadelphia just has to hope no further ill comes out of this for their glasses-wearing star southpaw.
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