In becoming the first team this season to beat back the defending World Series champions, the Phillies’ margin of victory Friday night could best be described as “skin of their teeth.”
Or maybe the skin of J.T. Realmuto’s thumb.
Because a half-inning before Realmuto closed out a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers by throwing out Chris Taylor on an attempted steal of second base — a determination that came only after a video review overturned the call on the field — he cut his right thumb trying to open a water bottle.
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“It was literally like the smallest cut,” the catcher said.
Maybe. But Realmuto kept bleeding on the ball in the ninth inning. So, as the Dodgers cut into the lead against reliever Jordan Romano, who struggled once again with diminished velocity (93.7 mph average) and poor command, the game had to be stopped for a trainer to apply glue over Realmuto’s cut.
Realmuto said it didn’t affect his ability to throw, and well, good thing for the Phillies. He caught Shohei Ohtani trying to steal second in the eighth inning, then nailed Taylor in the ninth to assure Jesús Luzardo would win after seven stellar innings in his home debut.
“The two throws he made were game-changers,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Really. Especially the last one.”
Said Luzardo: “He’s incredible back there, obviously. I’ve enjoyed watching him from a distance for a while, and now, being able to work with him, it’s awesome. Throwing two guys out in that situation was huge.”
For seven innings, Luzardo dazzled. He held the best team in the sport, with Ohtani and Mookie Betts atop a star-studded order, to two hits and two walks. At one point, with the Phillies’ clutching a 1-0 lead and generating little against Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, he retired 13 batters in a row.
Luzardo’s fastball crackled through the zone, touching 98 mph and sitting 97. But each of his eight strikeouts came on offspeed pitches: changeup (four), slider (three), and sweeper (one), a pitch that he picked up after getting traded to the Phillies in December.
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As well as Luzardo pitched in his first start for the Phillies last Saturday in Washington, this was even better, although it’s probably splitting hairs. He has the third-most strikeouts (19) through two starts with the Phillies, trailing only Vince Velasquez (25) and Jim Bunning (20).
“Both outings to me were great,” Realmuto said. “I mean, he was able to mix his pitch well tonight. He was ahead of guys all night long, throwing a lot of strikes, mixing the sweeper and slider together. Changeup looked great. He really just got everything going.”
And he saved his best pitches for when things got tense.
With one out in the sixth inning, Luzardo walked Andy Pages to bring Ohtani to the plate as the go-ahead run. But he calmly whiffed Ohtani on a dirt-diving changeup before picking off Pages at first base.
In the seventh inning, Teoscar Hernández stroked a two-out double and Will Smith walked. As Luzardo’s pitch count climbed above 90, Enrique Hernández fouled off back-to-back 97-mph heaters with two strikes.
Luzardo went for the strikeout on a changeup in the dirt, but Enrique Hernández laid off. With the count full, Luzardo got him to chase a slider at his feet for strike three. He clapped the pocket of his glove, pumped his fist, and as a sold-out ballpark — including his parents — erupted around him, he walked off the mound and clapped his mitt twice more.
On the fourth night in April, it felt more like October.
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“Probably one of my most well executed starts I’ve ever had in my career,” Luzardo said.
How so?
“Just making the pitches where we needed to make them, moving the ball around,” Luzardo said. “J.T. did a great job of calling the game back there. I didn’t shake once, just basically trusting him and the homework that he does and and the plan that we set together and we executed it well.”
Luzardo has heard Citizens Bank Park get louder. He was just never on the receiving end of the roar. But he earned every ounce of adulation.
“Having a fan base like that and an atmosphere like that pulling behind you is what every player dreams of,” Luzardo said. “The adrenaline that it gives you, I think it brings out the best in you.”
It’s funny how things work out. The Phillies were facing Yamamoto for the first time since trying hard to sign him out of Japan two years ago.
In December 2023, seven team officials flew to Southern California to make a presentation that featured a video-recorded recruiting pitch from Harper. The Phillies offered $300 million, with escalators that would have pushed the deal over the Dodgers’ $325 million winning bid.
But they also knew where they stood a few days later when Yamamoto visited the East Coast to meet with the Mets and Yankees but declined the Phillies’ invitation to come to Philadelphia.
More than anything, Yamamoto, like many Japanese stars, wanted to play for the Dodgers and won a World Series in his first season with them.
But if the Phillies had succeeded in landing Yamamoto, maybe they wouldn’t have traded for Luzardo.
It’s been two starts, but they’ll take that tradeoff.
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