Marlins take series from Brewers behind Luzardo's eight scoreless innings

MIAMI, FL—The last time Miami Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo entered the eighth inning of a ballgame, it was his final start of the 2023 regular season against the New York Mets. Luzardo ended up going 7 ⅓ innings, giving up one run off of four hits. He walked one and struck out ten. That game was cut short and ultimately ruled a Marlins loss after the infamous rain delay in Citi Field.

On Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers, Luzardo finished the eighth inning himself. The Venezuelan pitcher was even more dominant, and he needed to be because a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first inning accounted for the only run in the Marlins win.

"I think since he's come off the IL, it's the best version," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "One walk in 20 innings since he's come off the IL shows you what it's all about. He's in a groove."

One of the biggest issues for the left-hander entering this game was his fastball command. Although Luzardo struck out seven in his last start, he still wasn't comfortable with it. This time around, he lowered his velocity and the location of his pitches heavily improved. His average fastball velo was 94.1 mph, down 1.7 mph from his season average. He generated six whiffs on the four-seam and threw 72 strikes on 100 pitches.

"I still go back and try to reach for it," said Luzardo after the game. "Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not, but in terms of health, I felt healthy and right now, I'm focused. The location and my misses had been really good, which is something that me and Mel (Stottlemyre Jr.) talked about a lot. Just emphasizing location over velocity."

Along with strong use of his four-seam and slider, Luzardo's changeup has vastly improved from where it was prior to his IL stint, generating nine whiffs in his last start and six times on Wednesday. It's still his third most-used pitch, but it's been impacting the result of his starts a lot more.

"Utilizing that side of the plate with his four-seam definitely opens (the changeup) on the other side of the plate," said catcher Nick Fortes following the game. "Everything kind of goes hand in hand, but yes, past three starts he's definitely had really good fastball command, really good slider command and then a really good changeup whenever we need it. It's been a complete package for him."

The Marlins have thrown four shutouts in their last eight games. Fortes has caught all four of them.

According to Fish on the Farm, Luzardo became the second Marlins pitcher to throw eight shutout innings in loanDepot park. Adam Conley was the last to do it, which came in 2016. He gave up four hits and struck out four.

Opposing Luzardo was Brewers ace Freddy Peralta. His last time against the Marlins, he gave up four runs off of nine hits and only struck out four. On Wednesday, Peralta gave up one run off of four hits, one walk and struck out seven. His only mistake came against the first hitter of the game: Jazz Chisholm Jr..

On a 3-1 count, Peralta surrendered a lead-off homer to Chisholm off of his four-seam. It was Chisholm's second lead-off home run of the season and the seventh of his career, surpassing Chris Coghlan's Marlins career total. Hanley Ramirez holds the franchise record with 25.

A few minutes earlier, former teammate and good friend of Chisholm, Luis Arraez hit his first home run of the season, a lead-off homer of his own for the San Diego Padres. Chisholm says he was "a little bit pumped up" to receive the notification on his phone about it and had to do the same.

The Marlins have won three straight series and are now 17-34 on the season as they begin a six-game west-coast road trip to Arizona and San Diego. Braxton Garrett will take the mound for the Marlins in his third start of the season on Friday night. First pitch will be at 9:40 pm.