Jesus Luzardo chased early as Miami Marlins routed by Mets to ensure losing season
.JPG "Miami Marlins’ Jesus Luzardo delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)")
It didn’t take long for Jesus Luzardo’s pitch count to get out of hand. The New York Mets attacked the Miami Marlins’ left-handed pitcher early and often.
It led to an early exit, something Luzardo hasn’t experienced since his return from the injured list in early August.
It also led to the Miami Marlins’ 9-3 loss on Sunday at loanDepot park, a defeat that ensures the Marlins will have a losing season for the 23rd time in the franchise’s 30-year history. Miami is now 57-82 on the season. The Mets are 89-52.
Luzardo was pulled with the bases loaded after pitching just 3 1/3 innings, marking the first time in eight starts since a lengthy IL stint for a left forearm strain that he didn’t pitch at least five innings. One of those three runners scored, making Luzardo’s final line five earned runs on six hits, three walks and a pair of hit by pitches while tallying three strikeouts.
Luzardo threw 91 pitches while facing just 21 batters — an average of 4.33 pitches per plate appearance. Of Luzardo’s 55 strikes Sunday, 43 were on pitches the Mets swung at — 21 foul balls, nine swings and misses (including the final pitch for two of Luzardo’s strikeouts), seven outs on balls in play and the six hits.
“They grind you out,” Luzardo said, adding that he felt this was his most challenging start of the season. “They really make you work. They foul off all the pitches that you feel like are good pitches and then they’re not really chasing much.”
Six of the 21 plate appearances went at least six pitches, all of which either ended in outs or free passes. This included 17 combined pitches for back-to-back outs against Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso as part of a 29-pitch first inning to escape a two-on, no-out jam.
“29 pitches in the first is not ideal,” Luzardo said, “but the fact that I was able to get out of that with no runs, it was definitely, I felt, a step in the right direction. I felt like it was something to build off of for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it went.”
Brandon Nimmo opened scoring in the second with a two-out, three-run home run on a changeup near the heart of the plate. This came after Jeff McNeil hit a single to right and Tomas Nido walked on nine pitches. Luzardo threw 24 pitches in the frame.
And then in the third, McNeil extended the Mets’ lead to 4-0 with a two-out single to center field that scored Lindor, who was hit by a pitch after a six-pitch plate appearance to lead off the inning.
Two singles and a walk in the first four plate appearances in the fourth ended Luzardo’s outing. A Pete Alonso RBI groundout against Huascar Brazoban scored one of the inherited runners.
“I was hoping early when he gets out of the jam in the first that it could be one of those days where your starter gets out of that and then kind of gets on a roll,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “but it just seemed like it just kept coming today.”
Brian Anderson scored Miami’s only runs with a pair of home runs — a leadoff, solo home run to straightaway center in the fourth inning against Taijuan Walker and a two-run shot to right in the eighth against Seth Lugo. The Mets tacked on two more runs in the fifth on a Nido double against Brazoban and capped scoring with solo home runs from Eduardo Escobar and Nido in the ninth against Tommy Nance.
Up next
The Marlins play a split doubleheader against the Texas Rangers on Monday, with Game 1 scheduled for a 1:10 p.m. start and first pitch for Game 2 slated for 7:10 p.m.
Left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers (4-11, 5.11) is scheduled to pitch the first game. Braxton Garrett will pitch the second game, which will be his first game back since going on the injured list with a right oblique strain last month.
After that, the Marlins close their seven-day, eight-game homestand with a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
This story was originally published September 11, 2022 at 4:44 PM.
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