Jesús Luzardo goes five innings as ‘opener’

Philadelphia mounted a surreal comeback with Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper homering in the eighth inning to essentially force extra-innings before Alec Bohm’s go-ahead homer kept their season alive. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are the most logical candidates, but they could decide to give the ball to lefty Jesús Luzardo as an opener after he went five innings during Game 1 earlier this week. It’ll be an all-hands-on-deck situation regardless of who takes the ball to kick off the winner-take-all affair.

Luzardo was activated from the IL on Sunday after missing two weeks with shoulder inflammation. He threw one inning of relief in the final game of the regular season, so he will not be built up long enough to pitch deep into this game. He’ll go as long as possible, and then the Phillies will turn things over to Andrew Painter.

Luzardo, who missed time with shoulder inflammation, needed just four pitches to get three groundouts in the eighth inning. They were all sinkers and they averaged 96.3 mph, which was up just a tad from his 95.8-mph average on the season. One imagines he’ll be available in some capacity for Tuesday’s Wild Card opener.

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.

Luzardo has spent the last two weeks on the IL with shoulder inflammation. Because the D-backs lost, Sunday’s game won’t necessarily be a must-win for the Phillies, though they would clinch if they win. They’ll only fail to advance if they lose and Arizona wins.

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.