Phillies’ explanation for Jesús Luzardo’s crash is worse than watching him pitch

Philadelphia Phillies fans are beside themselves after Jesús Luzardo put together another terrible start on Thursday afternoon in Toronto. It's difficult to blame fans for having real and visceral reactions to how bad the left-hander has been in his last two outings.

Unfortunately, Luzardo and the Phillies won't be reassuring us anytime soon that he'll come out looking better the next time he toes the rubber.

After giving up a mind-boggling 12 runs in 3 1/3 innings on May 31 against the Milwaukee Brewers, Luzardo somehow topped that against the Blue Jays in the series finale on Thursday. He allowed eight runs on nine hits and two walks in just 2 1/3 innings of painful baseball. He struck out only two Jays hitters.

After beginning the season on the road to legitimate Cy Young contention through his first 11 starts, the wheels have fallen off and the cart is overturned in the ditch. It's also on fire.

Luzardo went 5-0 with a 2.15 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 67 innings through his May 25 start. He allowed just 16 earned runs over that time. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and the front office were being given their flowers for pulling off the best trade of the offseason.

But now, Luzardo has given up 20 earned runs in his last 5 2/3 innings. His ERA is up to 4.46.

Neither the Phillies nor Jesús Luzardo seem to have a grasp on his problem

So after two clunkers in a row, the Phillies and Luzardo must have an idea of what has been going wrong and have a plan to fix it. Right?

Wrong.

Luzardo is as stumped as anyone. After Thursday's 9-1 loss, the 27-year-old gave some uninspiring non-answers.

“There’s something obvious that we’re missing,” Luzardo said, per MLB.com's Jordan Horrobin. “The first 11 starts are lights out, and then the next two are 20 earned runs. There’s gotta be something that we can find and fix and make that change. It has to happen fast.”

“I feel like that’s been the game plan against me lately, a lot,” Luzardo continued. “Just a lot of early swings. The frustrating thing is they also take some really good pitches early, so that’s why there’s gotta be something that I’m missing.”

Sure, he made some good pitches that got hit, like an Ernie Clement double on a changeup that was almost in the dirt. But a 96 mph fastball down the pipe to the light-hitting Myles Straw isn't ideal:

Is Jesús Luzardo injured, or tipping pitches?

Maybe he's hurt. Revelation of a physical ailment wouldn't be great news for the shorthanded Phillies rotation, but at least it would explain the 31.76 ERA over his last two truncated starts. Manager Rob Thomson and Luzardo himself said that everything is fine physically (subscription required), according to The Athletic's Matt Gelb.

Maybe he's tipping his pitches?

“I mean, they’re just on everything,” Luzardo said, per Gelb. “It almost looks like they know what’s coming. So I don’t have an answer, but there’s no one working harder at finding an answer than me..."

Luzardo will be going over the tape of his most recent outing, per Horrobin, trying to detect if he has been tipping off hitters. Closer Jordan Romano had similar concerns earlier this season after some brutal relief outings. The Phillies figured out there was a mechanical flaw, which has more or less fixed him.

However, it sounds like the Phillies think it's just a lack of execution for Luzardo, which is, at least .... something. But for a major league pitcher with multiple seasons of experience to lose it so suddenly and dramatically is shocking.

Whatever the reason, they better figure something out before his next start, which will probably come at home against the Chicago Cubs next week.

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