Riding his best three-start stretch of the season, Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Jesus Luzardo will be put to the test Saturday in the middle game of a three-game road series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After he delivered six scoreless innings in a 3-0 win against the San Diego Padres on Monday, Luzardo now faces the Dodgers, who are on a six-game winning streak and have hit a combined 12 home runs over their past three games.
Luzardo (4-4, 4.38 ERA) has allowed five home runs in 11 starts this season and none over the past three games when he fashioned a combined 1.00 ERA in outings against the Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds and Padres.
Lately Luzardo has been able to work around scoring threats, unlike earlier in the season when he had outings that included two starts with six runs allowed, one with five and another with nine.
“I feel like I’ve had a lot of outings this year where it’s felt pretty grindy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. “You know, the easy outings are always fun, but when you have to really work for it, I think at the end of the day it kind of makes you feel better about it.”
The Phillies received a home run from Kyle Schwarber in the sixth inning Friday, which was also their first hit of the game. Philadelphia finished with just three hits during a 4-2 loss in the series opener that ended their three-game winning streak.
In his Phillies debut Friday, center fielder Steward Berroa drove in a run in three at-bats. Berroa was recalled while Otto Kemp was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and right-hander Nolan Hoffman was added to the bullpen.
The Dodgers received home runs from Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith as their power surge continued. Freeman has four home runs over the past nine games, while Ohtani has three in his past eight.
Los Angeles is 13-2 in games since May 13.
The Dodgers also made a collection of roster moves Friday with infielder/outfielder Ryan Ward recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City and infielder Santiago Espinal re-signed after he was designated for assignment Monday.
The moves came as Enrique Hernandez (oblique) and Teoscar Hernandez (hamstring) went down with injuries this week.
“With a star-studded team, you also have to have guys that know their roles and (Espinal) is a guy that is good on the team, understands his value,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s ready when called upon. I trust him defensively and I like him versus left-handed pitching. Just having him back is pretty seamless.”
The Dodgers will send right-hander Roki Sasaki to the mound as they chase what would be their first seven-game winning streak since April 26-May 3 last season.
Sasaki (3-3, 4.93) is coming off back-to-back wins for the first time this season. He dominated the Los Angeles Angels on May 17 then gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits over five innings Saturday at Milwaukee in an 11-3 win over the Brewers.
Sasaki gave up one run over four innings in a regular-season start against the Phillies last season. He then faced Philadelphia three times in relief during the playoffs, including three scoreless innings in Game 4 of the National League Division Series as Los Angeles advanced.
–Field Level Media
