Alarm Bells Going off After New Phillies Star Jesus Luzardo Was Shelled Again

Jesus Luzardo was slated to pitch for the Philadelphia Phillies in their series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday.

Six days ago, everyone would have been confident that this was a game the Phillies could win. But that was shaken a bit coming off the worst outing of his career against the Milwaukee Brewers on May 31 when he was shelled for 12 runs in 3 1/3 innings of work.

Still, Luzardo had been one of the best pitchers in the sport before that outing, and with a new hair style that he was sporting to help get that start out of his mind, the hope was he would be able to flush that performance.

That did not happen, though.

Luzardo was shelled again, allowing eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings of work this time around, giving up hard contact after hard contact that looked like the Blue Jays were going through batting practice.

Alarm bells should be fully going off right now.

Philadelphia was beyond pleased with what they had gotten from Luzardo in the early going, as the left-hander was performing like a top-of-the-rotation arm that made the struggles of Aaron Nola feel less severe.

But after his last two outings, that is no longer the case.

Last Two Starts: 20 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings pitched
First 11 Starts: 16 earned runs in 67 innings pitched

The Phillies need to be working overtime to figure out what has gone wrong for the left-hander.

A velocity dip has not been the issue, with his four-seamer and sinker averaging the same speed as his season-long numbers, so that suggests his arm is still live despite all the innings he's thrown before these two horrendous outings.

However, location has been the issue.

Luzardo has been leaving tons of balls over the middle part of the plate, and at this level, those are going to get crushed.

Hopefully it's just a location, mechanics or even pitch-tipping issue that Luzardo is dealing with instead of something physical.

But it's clear that this version of the left-hander is not the same that he showed earlier in the season, and that should be concerning for Philadelphia as they navigate the summer months.

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