Luzardo returns to form with 10 strikeouts and Phillies bats come alive to end prolonged slumps

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. admired Kyle Schwarber's shot deep into the right-field seats -"that's a bomb!" - and got a thrill when Nick Castellanos came inches away from his own solo homer. Castellanos settled for a triple, showing that in baseball - unlike in Stenhouse's day job in NASCAR - good things happen when a long drive ends with a smack off the wall.

Alec Bohm also went deep and teamed with Schwarber and Castellanos to contribute three of the Phillies' five extra-base hits in a win the team can only hope revived an offense that's been punchless this month.

Another encouraging sign? Jesús Luzardo put two disastrous starts behind him and struck out 10 in six innings to lead the Phillies past the Chicago Cubs 7-2 on Wednesday.

The Phillies had lost nine of 10 games overall headed into the Cubs’ series and suffered the double whammy of losing first baseman Bryce Harper to wrist soreness and starter Aaron Nola adding a stress reaction in one of his right ribs.

They returned home and split the first two games of the three-game set against the Cubs in underwhelming fashion: Of their 26 hits in two games, 23 were singles.

Schwarber hit his 21st homer a Monster Mile - Stenhouse attended to promote the July 20 NASCAR race at Dover Motor Speedway - and Bohm added four RBIs to help the Phillies win the series.

Schwarber is averaging one home run for every 10.94 at-bats during June in his career, which ranks third in MLB history with at least 600 at-bats behind Babe Ruth (10.64 AB/HR) and Mark McGwire (10.80 AB/HR).

Luzardo handled the rest.

The left-hander was an early season success story in his first season since he was acquired from Miami in what looked like the heist of the winter. He struck out 11 in his Phillies' debut and followed in his second start with seven scoreless innings. Luzardo struck out a combined 20 batters in consecutive starts in late May as the Phillies surged to the lead in the NL.

Luzardo's next two starts were somehow about as bad as it gets - he was rocked for 12 runs in 3 1/3 innings that skyrocketed his ERA from 2.15 to 3.58 and he gave up eight runs in 2 1/3 innings in his last outing in Toronto.

Luzardo insisted he was healthy and still hit the high 90s with his fastball, forcing him to study game film with a bit of a detective's eye to find out why his season soured. He came to the conclusion that he must have been tipping his pitches.

How about a tip of the cap from Phillies fans instead?

"There’s a lot of things we tinkered with," Luzardo said. "The biggest thing was attention to detail, attention to where we want to go, pitch selection that comes from me."

Luzardo fanned two batters in the first inning to get the gem of a start going. He didn't walk a batter in six innings and allowed his only run with the Phillies up 4-0. Luzardo gave up consecutive singles to open the second inning before he struck out the side.

"He studies himself and he wants to address what he’s doing wrong," Schwarber said. "That’s the impressive thing about him. We were all excited to watch him get out there on the mound today and see what was going to happen. Never a third time."

Max Lazar worked two innings of relief and Michael Mercado tossed a scoreless ninth for the Phillies.

Luzardo recorded his fourth double-digit strikeout game in his 15th start of the season, the first Phillies pitcher with four or more double-digit strikeout games in their first 15 starts with the team since Steve Carlton had five in 1972.

Yes, the Hall of Famer with the 10-foot statue outside Citizens Bank Park.

Not all stats, of course, are usually measured against Hall of Famers. Luzardo was the first Phillies left-hander with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks in a game since Drew Smyly struck out 10 in 2019 at Washington.

Up next, an off day and a home weekend series against a Blue Jays team that outscored the Phillies 11-2 in consecutive losses last weekend.

Schwarber was willing to bet the past two weeks were just a blip in a long season for a playoff-tested team rather than the start of a summer swoon.

"We know what we have," Schwarber said. "We’ve been in a little rut and we’re finding our way out of it. We know that if we do what we need to do, we’re know that we’re not going to be losing many games overall."

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