Jesus Luzardo shines, but Marlins walked off by Angels to go 1-4 on road trip

Jesus Luzardo pitched his way into the Miami Marlins’ record book.

But the left-handed pitcher’s 12-strikeout night was overshadowed by another early-season Marlins loss — this time a 4-3, walk-off defeat against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday. Miami went 1-4 on this season-opening road trip, going 1-2 against the San Francisco Giants and getting swept by the Angels.

And the deciding run didn’t come without controversy.

Tyler Wade, who entered as a pinch runner after Jack Mayfield drew a one-out walk, broke for second base on a stolen base attempt on the first pitch of Max Stassi’s ensuing plate appearance. Wade slid past the bag, and Marlins second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. applied the tag.

“He was out,” Chisholm said afterward.

Except... he wasn’t. Second base umpire Ramon De Jesus called Wade safe.

“I don’t even know how they come up with safe there,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.

Chisholm wrapped up Wade afterward and said Wade’s “heart was beating really fast, so I think he knew he was out, too.”

The Marlins called for the play to be reviewed. The final word: The play stands.

Not exactly a word the Marlins manager likes to hear.

“It’s back to the same old thing with replay,” Mattingly said. “’Stands’ is the worst thing they can do. ‘Stands’ is a cop out call, and it’s really frustrating when you see the guy’s hand off the base. Jazz’s foot is in between. I don’t understand. There’s no reason to have ‘stands.’ Make them make a call. I mean, is he out or safe? ‘Stands is a cop out there. “I hate ‘stands.’ I’ve been saying it for the beginning. I’ll say it till I’m done, and when I’m done I’ll keep saying it.”

Wade moved to third one pitch later on an Anthony Bender wild pitch and scored on a Max Stassi’s ground ball that shortstop Miguel Rojas bobbled and couldn’t throw home in time.

“It’s very upsetting that it didn’t go our way,” said Chisholm, who hit a game-tying two-run home run in the top of the seventh. “That play probably cost us the game. Just got to go back out there next game and do it again.”

The walk-off loss spoiled a strong performance from Luzardo in his first start of the season.

The 24-year-old Parkland Stoneman Douglas High alumnus threw a career-high 12 strikeouts over five innings of work.

That performance puts his name in the Marlins’ record books in a few categories.

▪ It’s the most strikeouts in franchise history for a Marlins pitcher in an outing of five innings or fewer.

▪ It’s tied for the most strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher in Marlins history, matching the previous mark set by Dontrelle Willis (Oct. 2, 2005, and Sept. 10, 2006) and Wei-Yin Chen (May 11, 2016).

▪ It ties the franchise record for strikeouts through the first five innings of a game, joining Ricky Nolasco (Sept. 30, 2009) and A.J. Burnett (July 6, 2005).

“I feel like I had some of the best stuff I’ve had ever in my big-league career,” Luzardo said.

Luzardo’s run to the record books began with him getting reigning American League Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani to whiff at a low 85.7 mph curveball for his first strikeout of the game, the first of two strikeouts in the opening inning.

He struck out the side in order in the second and fifth and got multiple strikeouts in the second and fourth as well.

The record-setting strikeout came against Andrew Velazquez, who followed through on a check swing attempt at a curveball in the dirt that got away from catcher Jacob Stallings. As Stallings made the throw to first to secure the final out of the fifth inning, Luzardo pumped his fist into his glove in celebration and looked up to the sky before making his way to the dugout.

It was the latest step in the right direction for Luzardo after impressing during spring training.

He allowed just one run on two hits and a walks. Jack Mayfield’s triple on a ball to right field that skipped past Brian Anderson scored Mike Trout in the fourth.

Other than that, Luzardo was downright dominant in his season debut.

He used his fastball up in the zone to set up his curveball low. Angels hitters swung at 13 of his 38 curveballs. They whiffed on 12 of those 13 swings. Nine of his 12 strikeouts ended with that pitch — six swinging, three looking.

“He’s special when it clicks,” Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said during spring training. “Big upside. Players sometimes will let you know when they’re ready to overcome things and take off.”

Luzardo has the remnants 2021 season to overcome. His 12 starts after being acquired by the Marlins in the Starling Marte trade with the Oakland Athletics last July were mostly starts to forget. He had a 6.64 ERA and 1.60 walks and hits per inning pitched in that stretch — a dozen-game sample size he said doesn’t reflect who he can truly be when things are working right.

“Last year was so frustrating for me,” Luzardo said during spring training. “I felt like I was just — not weak-minded but things spiraled out of control. This offseason really kind of got me locked back in.”

He impressed during spring training, showing command with his fastball that hits the upper 90s and poise when he had traffic on the basepaths — his two biggest weak spots from last season.

“His stuff’s so electric,” Stottlemyre said. “We wait for that moment for where we all can go ‘OK, he’s got a handle on it. Now he can go.’ We saw Sandy [Alcantara] go last year, and we’ll continue to see Sandy and Pablo [Lopez] go. Now, we’re trying to get Luzardo in that ‘go mode,’ meaning be productive and not beat yourself. He’s working on that part. It’s hard for him because he’s wired to go and throw hard. We want to balance that. Make pitches and not beat yourself and put yourself in a position to win games.”

He put the Marlins in position through five innings before it faded away in the ninth.

This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 10:13 PM.

Jordan McPherson

Miami Herald

305-376-2129

Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.