Jesús Luzardo Meets Dodgers After 1.00 ERA Run
jesús luzardo takes a sharp three-start run into Saturday’s start for the Phillies, and the opponent is the Dodgers. He will pitch in the middle game of a three-game road series after posting a combined 1.00 ERA across his outings against the Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres.
Luzardo Faces A Hot Los Angeles
Luzardo goes in with a 4-4 record and a 4.38 ERA, but his last three outings have trimmed the noise around those numbers. He threw six scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the Padres on Monday and had not allowed a home run over those three starts before Saturday.
The Dodgers bring the opposite form line. They entered Saturday on a six-game winning streak and had hit a combined 12 home runs over their past three games, with Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith all going deep in Friday’s 4-2 win over Philadelphia.
Phillies Need Cleaner Bats
Friday left the Phillies with little margin. Kyle Schwarber’s sixth-inning homer produced their first hit of the game, and the club finished with three hits after losing 4-2 in the opener. The defeat snapped a three-game winning streak and left Saturday’s start carrying more weight for a club trying to keep the series from slipping away early.
Berroa’s debut added a small jolt on the roster side, as he drove in a run in three at-bats after Philadelphia recalled him, optioned Otto Kemp to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and added Nolan Hoffman to the bullpen. The Dodgers answered with their own moves Friday, recalling Ryan Ward and re-signing Santiago Espinal after designating him for assignment Monday.
Roki Sasaki Gets The Ball
Los Angeles will counter with right-hander Roki Sasaki, who is 3-3 with a 4.93 ERA and is chasing his first seven-game winning streak since April 26-May 3 last season. He earned back-to-back wins for the first time this season, held the Los Angeles Angels to no runs on May 17 and allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits over five innings Saturday at Milwaukee in an 11-3 win.
Sasaki also has direct history against Philadelphia. He allowed one run over four innings in a regular-season start against the Phillies last season and threw three scoreless innings in Game 4 of the National League Division Series. Luzardo’s own line now gets the tighter test: a streaking opponent, a road start and a chance to turn a 1.00 ERA stretch into something longer.
