Jesús Luzardo allows 12 runs in Phillies’ 17-7 loss to the Brewers

Babe Ruth was still alive to see the last time a Phillies starting pitcher allowed 12 or more runs in a game.

The Bambino died of cancer in 1948, a year after Al Jurisich gave up 14 runs in eight innings to the New York Giants. And if one had been taking bets for the next Phillies starter to write his name next to Jurisich’s, odds likely wouldn’t have been in favor of it being Jesús Luzardo, who entered Friday with the second-best qualified ERA in the National League.

But the time his day was over, only 3⅓ innings into what was ultimately a 17-7 loss to the Brewers, Luzardo’s numbers had taken a serious hit. He was charged with a career-high 12 runs against Milwaukee, inflating his season ERA from 2.15 to 3.58.

“Just not being able to get back on track and give length to the team, kind of put the bullpen in bad position, obviously put us down in a bad hole,” Luzardo said. “It’s not what you want as a starter.”

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Rob Thomson ejected in fourth inning of matchup vs. Brewers

Phillies manager Rob Thomson was ejected by second base umpire Dan Iassogna amid an eight-run fourth inning after taking issue with a balk call on Luzardo.

The left-hander had already allowed a season-high four earned runs before recording an out in the game. Former Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins received an ovation before his at-bat in the first inning, but those cheers quickly turned to boos when he crushed a three-run homer to center field.

“It’s funny because his first-pitch strikes were really good, and when he didn’t execute, they hit the ball hard,” Thomson said. “When he did execute, the ball seemed to find a hole, or a soft base hit.”

The Brewers weren’t missing anything Luzardo threw at them, racking up 12 hits and whiffing only three times total on 76 pitches.

“I don’t know necessarily what looked different from him, but just wasn’t able to get it done,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “I felt like any time runners got on base, it just kind of snowballed from there. So the two really big innings, obviously, that’s not normal for him, so don’t really know why it happened, but it’s baseball.”

Even before Thomson’s ejection, the fourth inning started poorly. Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh converged in right-center field on a line drive by Sal Frelick that popped out of Castellanos’ glove for a double. Then, Luzardo overthrew first base fielding a bunt single by Caleb Durbin, scoring Frelick on the error.

Luzardo then attempted to pick off Durbin at first base, and the Brewer took off for second, where he initially was called out by the second base umpire. However, the third base umpire overruled him, ruling that Luzardo’s move to first base was a balk.

“I’ve done this my whole career since 2019, I’ve never been called a balk on it,” Luzardo said. “I understand. I think they did a great job of not throwing me out. In the heat of the moment, I probably was a little hotheaded, but I just wanted an explanation as to what was the balk. I thought I gained ground, even though I fell toward the plate, and always kept my body moving, even though it’s slow.

“But basically, I got a couple of different answers, and that’s what frustrated me the most, saying that I stopped at the top of my delivery, which I didn’t. And the call coming from third base is what I feel frustrated me the most.”

He said he found it difficult to regulate his frustration after the call, which led him to unravel further on the mound. After Thomson was ejected, Luzardo walked two straight batters and gave up two singles before Hoskins crushed his second three-run shot of the game.

A double from Daz Cameron brought in Joe Ross to end Luzardo’s day.

Thomson said he didn’t remove Luzardo earlier in the inning because of his track record this season of battling out of jams, and because he wanted to save the bullpen as much as possible.

“Statistics matter,” Thomson said. “You want your guys to have great years, but at some point too, you’ve got to battle through things, and you got to do it for your teammates, so you got to strike that balance.”

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper swung a bat for first time since elbow injury; Kyle Schwarber getting extra work in at first base

Once it did take over, the bullpen didn’t fare much better. Ross allowed Cameron to score on a single, though he then tossed a scoreless fifth. José Ruiz allowed the Brewers’ final five runs on five hits in the sixth inning. After Tanner Banks pitched the seventh, position player Weston Wilson took over for the eighth and ninth innings.

The Phillies offense saved a little face with five runs in the ninth inning. Johan Rojas drove in two runs with a triple to the right-field corner, and then came home when Brewers pitcher Tyler Alexander failed to cover first on an infield single by Max Kepler. Brandon Marsh hit a two-run homer to cut the deficit to 10.

With 70⅓ innings on the season this year, Luzardo has surpassed his total of 66⅔ innings from his injury-shortened 2024 season with Miami. While the Phillies certainly want to be cautious about his workload, they don’t envision pulling back on him because of Saturday’s start. Luzardo’s velocity trended about normal, and he said he felt great physically.

“I told even ‘Zeus’ for himself personally, like as he walks off the mound, ‘This one’s over. You got to let it go,’” Realmuto said. “So we got to do the same thing as a team.”