MIAMI — With his 87th and final pitch on Saturday, Jesus Luzardo fired a 97.2-mph fastball near the top of the strike zone. Bryce Harper, a National League MVP candidate, took a ferocious hack. He whiffed.
Luzardo’s final start this season ended on as big of a high note as he probably could have hoped.
Luzardo struck out a career-high 11 batters, walked none and gave up just one run in 5 1/3 innings of work to lead the Miami Marlins to a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday at loanDepot park. Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s 18th home run of the season, a three-run shot in the third, gave Luzardo all the run support he needed.
With the win, the Marlins (66-95) will finish with a winning record at loanDepot park this year. They are 41-39 at home with Sunday’s season finale left to play. The Marlins went 25-56 on the road.
While Luzardo struggled more often than not during his dozen starts since the Marlins acquired him from the Oakland Athletics for Starling Marte, it’s games like Saturday that show the potential Luzardo can bring to an already talented starting rotation.
He at one point struck out five consecutive batters, erased two of the six hits he allowed with double plays and only allowed multiple baserunners to reach in one of his five full innings. Matt Vierling’s RBI single in the fifth drove in the only run against Luzardo on Saturday.
Anthony Bass, Richard Bleier, Anthony Bender and Dylan Floro combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
