Jesús Luzardo has a bounce back start and gets early run support in Phillies' 6-3 win over White Sox

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 29, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — When Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham left the dugout for a mound visit in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox, things seemed rather dire for Jesús Luzardo.

In his recent starts, the left-hander has struggled with runners on base, completely losing his command when pitching out of the stretch. After a six-run inning doomed Luzardo last week against the Boston Red Sox, the Phillies went back to the drawing board to try to fix the problem.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson said pregame it was more of a mindset shift, as Luzardo needed to get back to attacking the hitters out of the stretch instead of worrying about making a perfect pitch. That work in between starts was put to the test immediately on Tuesday, when Chicago’s leadoff hitter, Chase Meidroth, reached on a throwing error from Otto Kemp.

At first, Luzardo’s struggles continued. He was helped out by some big plays by Brandon Marsh in center field, including a sliding catch to rob Miguel Vargas, but the White Sox were making hard contact. A single and a walk loaded the bases with two outs in the first. It seemed Luzardo was teetering on the edge of another meltdown.

But after Cotham went out to the mound to talk to him, Luzardo went back to pitching from the windup with the bases loaded. That was something he had avoided doing in his last start — Luzardo said then he did not want to allow the runner at third to steal home — but this time, going back to his comfort zone helped him escape trouble. Luzardo induced a flyout to end the inning, and went on to retire the next 10 White Sox hitters en route to a 6-3 win.

Backed by his offense — including pair of two-run home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Marsh in the third inning — Luzardo turned in seven scoreless innings. Even when the White Sox put two runners aboard in the fifth with a single and a catching error charged to Luzardo, he rebounded with a strikeout and a lineout.

Schwarber’s homer in the third inning was a towering 441-foot shot for his 37th of the season.

After a 1-2-3 eighth inning from Jordan Romano, the White Sox spoiled the shutout on Daniel Robert in the ninth. They scored three runs on a pair of singles and a home run.