The first inning was a bit too familiar for Jesus Luzardo. The pitcher cruised through two batters, notched a strikeout and then hit a wall. Walks, wild pitches and missed spots derailed a once promising inning, and dug the Miami Marlins an early one-run hole Thursday against the New York Mets.
When he finally escaped, Luzardo trudged his way back into the Marlins’ dugout, gathered himself and hopped back out to the mound to put together another encouraging start in Miami. He even kept the Marlins within striking distance for long enough to pull out a 3-2, come-from-behind win on an eighth-inning, upper-deck home run by Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Luzardo pitched 4 2/3 more innings, allowed only one more hit, two more walks and one more run before he walked back off the mound for good in the sixth inning to a nice ovation from the crowd at loanDepot park.
After five straight debacles to start his career with his new team, Luzardo has delivered three straight solid outings to remind Miami why he was the return piece in its trade sending star outfielder Starling Marte to the Oakland Athletics in July.
It wasn’t quite Luzardo best yet for the Marlins, but it was only because of two bad moments. In the first inning, the left-handed pitcher allowed a two-out double to Javier Baez, then walked two straight and threw two wild pitches to let the Mets middle infielder score. In the third, he hung a curveball to the two-time All-Star and Baez clobbered it for a 438-foot home run to put New York ahead 2-0.
The 23-year-old from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland went 5 2/3 innings, allowed two hits, four walks and two earned runs, and matched a career-high with eight strikeouts. After posting a 9.67 ERA in his first five starts for Miami, Luzardo has a 2.60 ERA in his last three.
Marlins’ Anderson may need surgery
Brian Anderson and the Marlins are sorting through all options after the third baseman’s latest injury, and waiting for doctors’ opinions before figuring out what path his recovery might take.
One potential option, Anderson said, could be surgery on his left shoulder, which twice sent him to the injured list this season.
“They’ve been just getting different doctors’ opinions, seeing where we’re going to go from here on out,” said Anderson, who also plays some in the outfield. “We’re just waiting. Kind of the crappy part of it is just waiting and not knowing what the plan is.”
Miami placed Anderson on the 10-day IL with a left shoulder subluxation Friday, effectively ending his season after just 67 games.
It was the second time Anderson sustained a left shoulder subluxation in 2021. He also injured the shoulder in May and missed about two months.
Anderson also went on the IL with a left oblique strain in April and missed 11 games.
Should Anderson need surgery, he expects it would take about the entire offseason to recover. He expects he would be ready for spring training.
“That’s I think why we want to get those opinions soon,” Anderson said. “So we know which direction to go, so that I can have a full next season.”
Anderson is batting .249 with a .715 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and seven home runs in 264 plate appearances this year. When he was in the lineup, Anderson was the everyday third baseman and he was hoping to solidify his place the Marlins’ long-term plans in Kim Ng’s first season as general manager. He’s under team control for two more seasons.
In the meantime, Anderson is still able to run, exercise his core and do workouts with his right arm. He also said the shoulder feels better now than it did the last time he hurt it.
“Physically, it feels a little bit better,” Anderson said. “The doctors have been telling me that it’s very usual that the first time you pop it out it feels worse and then as you keep doing it it’s not better for it, but it actually hurts less.”
Marlins remember September 11 attacks
Miami held a moment of silence ahead of its Thursday game against the New York Mets to remember the Sept. 11 attacks ahead of the 20th anniversary.
The Marlins will be on the road for the actual anniversary, so the organization held a moment of silence at 6:23, then recognized members of South Florida’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, who were deployed to New York and Washington in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
