Jesús Luzardo to be activated, work in relief

The 28-year-old southpaw will be available out of the Phillies’ bullpen for Sunday’s regular season finale against the Rays. The Phillies need a victory or a loss from the Diamondbacks in order to punch their ticket to the postseason, so they’ll certainly use any and all available bullpen arms if necessary to get that job done.

If Luzardo’s shoulder is feeling good, he’ll face hitters this weekend and then be included on the Wild Card roster, probably with the idea that he’s throw at least a couple of innings in a potential Game 3.

Luzardo has continued playing catch from flat ground since hitting the injured list with shoulder inflammation last week. There’s optimism that he’ll be ready to pitch in the postseason. It’s unclear how much he’ll be able to contribute from a workload standpoint, but it sounds like he’s going to be ready at some point relatively soon.

Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly didn’t rule out the possibility that Luzardo will be ready to take the ball in the playoffs, but he’s effectively done for fantasy purposes since he won’t be eligible to be activated until the final game of the regular season. The Phillies held out hope that he would bounce back after being shut down from throwing for a couple days, but he’s not feeling 100 percent after being diagnosed with shoulder inflammation. The positive news is that an MRI didn’t reveal any structural damage and he isn’t facing an extended absence. The 28-year-old southpaw finishes the season as a top-10 fantasy starter, posting a pristine 2.87 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 221/52 K/BB ratio across 178 2/3 innings over 29 starts. Luzardo can be safely dropped in all redraft formats.

Luzardo, scratched from Saturday’s outing because of stiffness, appears likely to face the Mets next week. He said he would have pitched against the Braves today if it was up to him, but that it “probably wouldn’t have been the smartest decision.”

Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly told reporters late Friday that the decision was made for precautionary reasons to prevent the issue from lingering. It sounds like there’s optimism Luzardo will be able to start next week, most likely against the Mets on Friday, but that decision won’t be made until he throws his next bullpen session. Fantasy managers should keep a close eye on his status early next week.

The game took just 1:51 with Luzardo and Grant Holmes putting up zeroes. Kyle Schwarber homered in the eighth for the only run of the game. Luzardo allowed only singles to Matt Olson in the fourth and Michael Harris II in the eighth while throwing 109 pitches in his first ever complete game; he’s topped out at eight innings three times previously. The Phillies needed it, too, since closer Jhoan Duran had pitched back-to-back days. Luzardo moved to 14-5 with a 2.87 ERA. He’s going to face the Braves again in Atlanta this weekend.

Luzardo held the Diamondbacks scoreless through four innings before giving up a solo homer to Jordan Lawlar in the fifth. That would be all the damage the D-backs could get across on Luzardo as he pitched into the seventh, leaving with two outs at 99 pitches with six strikeouts. The 28-year-old left-hander will take an excellent 3.02 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and a 209/51 K/BB ratio across 169 2/3 innings into a start against the Braves in Philadelphia on Monday.

Luzardo allowed one hit and three walks to pick up his 12th win of the season and help Philadelphia avoid a potential sweep. The left-hander is tracking towards being an early-round starting pitcher in fantasy drafts next spring. He’s on pace to exceed 30 starts for the third time over the past four years while recording the highest average fastball velocity of his career. Luzardo is the fourth starter to eclipse the 200-strikeout plateau this season. He’ll be on the road against the Diamondbacks next time out.

This is the first time all year Luzardo has given up three or four runs in a start; he’d allowed two or fewer 18 times and five of more seven times in his 25 outings. The first two runs tonight should have been unearned and might get changed later. With two outs in the first, Jordan Walker hit a grounder to third that Bryson Stott had to back up on, but he had plenty of time to make a throw and unleashed a bad one. It went as a single and a throwing error, but it should have been a straight error. Joshua Báez then followed with a homer. Luzardo is slated to make his next start Wednesday in Seattle.