ATLANTA – The Phillies could not capitalize on yet another heroic effort from Jesús Luzardo.
He came out firing out of the bullpen in extra innings in his last playoff appearance in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, only for the Phillies to lose the series in the most devastating way possible. No need to go into detail.
Another year, more heartbreaking late playoff defeat. This time, Luzardo’s contributions came much earlier in the game. This time, the Phillies are still alive, but a game in, they are facing elimination.
Since the six-team playoff format was implemented in 2022, only one team, the 2025 New York Yankees, has come back to win a best-of-three wild card series after losing Game 1.
“This is a confident group,” J.T. Realmuto said. “We have a lot of faith in ourselves. We just know we gotta go out and play good baseball tomorrow. Faced a really good pitcher today, faced all their good arms. And they faced all our good arms.
“So it’s gonna be an evenly-matched series. We knew we had to win two out of three, we knew it wasn’t gonna be easy. So losing Game 1 isn’t gonna deter us at all, we’re still confident going into tomorrow.”
Maybe it’s better to remind yourself that the Phillies were expected to lose the Chris Sale game. They went 0-4 against him in the regular season, but they put up quality at-bats against him on Tuesday, forcing him out in the seventh with one out. They took the lead on a Realmuto triple in the seventh against 21-year-old star reliever Didier Fuentes, who struggled with command in his playoff debut. They were four outs away from stealing Game 1. They could taste it.
It’s how they lost. With very little bullpen depth, Don Mattingly called on Jhoan Duran in the seventh to get them to his usual spot in the ninth – or maybe even a little further. The seventh inning was a breeze.
If they were going to lose, it was going to be with their best chip.
“Anytime you lose a game late, obviously it’s frustrating, but in our minds we had our best guy out there,” Mattingly said. “You live with this one.”
Duran in the eighth left a fastball in the middle of the plate against Riley, who hit a three-run home run that just got over the fence in right field.
“Heartbreaker, especially knowing all the fight that went into the game,” Luzardo said. “But I mean, he’s the best closer in the game. I’ll take that guy on the mound any day of the week. So, just unfortunate, but there’s a reason why this is a three-game set. And we come back tomorrow and scratch and claw and find our way to play another day.”
Luzardo gave the Phillies all he had.
In his first full start since his complete-game shutout against Atlanta on Sept. 7, the left-hander fired off five innings and allowed only one run. The Phillies were tight-lipped on the plan for Luzardo.
“The plan was to see how we’re feeling and keep going,” Luzardo said.
Mattingly called him an “opener.” The Braves weren’t buying it.
“It’s hard to say: That’s exactly what I expected out of him, which was a lot,” Realmuto said. “That’s just who he has been for us all year long. He’s a competitor. He wants the ball. He’s tough. I had confidence in him going in, and he exceeded my expectations a little bit. He threw the ball great, kept us in the game.”
Luzardo hit 98 mph in a comfortable 1-2-3 frame in the first inning. Trouble ensued in the second, when cleanup hitter Mauricio Dubón poked a low changeup into the left-field corner for a leadoff double.
After a sacrifice bunt and a walk, Luzardo bounced a ball off the knob of Austin Riley’s bat. Those usually go foul, but the ball came straight to Luzardo on the mound.
The Phillies did pitching fielding practice on Monday, but there’s no way to simulate a moment like that. Realmuto pointed to second, but Luzardo instead initiated a rundown to get Dubón between third and home. Edmundo Sosa, sore groin and all, chased the runner out of the baseline.
Luzardo had a chance at two. A bad throw to second, however, would have derailed the inning. He went the safe route and got the out in front of him.
“Just a lot going on,” Luzardo said. “Lefty on deck. Didn’t want to make a bang-bang play. Riley is an incredible athlete. Didn’t want to risk a bang-bang play with Dubón going home with a lefty on deck. More kicking myself on the pitch to (Yastrzemski) than the play.”
Luzardo grabbed the dirt and yelled as the ball skipped past the narrow gap between Bryson Stott and Trea Turner. He allowed only three baserunners with two reaching base safely on hit-by-pitches after that inning.
Bleeding velocity by the inning, Luzardo fought.
“I mean, adrenaline, playoffs, just feeling good,” Luzardo said. “I feel like our bodies are pretty well-conditioned even though (I) was down for three weeks. I feel like the long season kinda helped condition us, me for that situation.”
“I heard him say something about running out of gas, but you know, when he’s on the mound, I don’t care if you’re selling 94 or 98, it’s tough to hit,” Turner said. “He went out there and battled for us, did a great job, kept us in the game and gave us a chance.”
The Phillies will fight again for their playoff lives. Cristopher Sánchez will follow Luzardo in Game 2 with the season on the line. As the Braves walked off the field, Sanchez lingered in the dugout, staring at the mound.
“Might just be a little foreshadowing, right?” Kyle Schwarber said.
Ty Daubert contributed to this report.
