PHILADELPHIA — Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo did his part through six innings on Monday night in Game 2 of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park.
The 17 consecutive batters retired was the second-longest streak in a postseason game in Phillies history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Roy Halladay retired 21 straight in Game 1 of the 2011 NLDS, Fittingly, this game was played on the 15th anniversary of Halladay’s no-hitter in the 2010 NLDS.
“The first [inning] was bumpier than expected,” Luzardo said. “But after we got out of that, it was just focusing on locating certain pitches, especially early in counts and getting ahead instead of falling behind.”
Luzardo allowed two runs on three hits and one walk and struck out five in six-plus innings. He got into trouble in the seventh, allowing a leadoff single to Teoscar Hernández and a double to Freddie Freeman to put runners on second and third with no outs.
Luzardo left the game, and both runs eventually scored as the Dodgers took a 4-0 lead in the inning.
The Phillies started Luzardo in Game 2 because he had been pitching better than everybody in the rotation other than Cristopher Sánchez in the final month of the season. If Philadelphia can win two games this week at Dodger Stadium to force a Game 5, Luzardo will be on the mound for Game 5 on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park.
Luzardo thinks it is possible.
“Obviously, you fall into a hole 0-2, but I think we all have a lot of confidence in the guys in this clubhouse,” Luzardo said. “And we know that we’re an extremely resilient and a scrappy team, and we have a lot of faith in every guy in the lineup and the rotation and the bullpen. All aspects of the team.
“So yeah, it’s obviously tough. … Wednesday is a new game, and then Thursday’s a new game. So we just got to go out and take it inning by inning.”
