Jesus Luzardo’s start Tuesday began with him getting reigning American League Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani to whiff at a low 85.7-mph curveball for his first strikeout of the game.
It ended with Luzardo making Marlins history.
The 24-year-old left-handed pitcher and Parkland Stoneman Douglas High alumnus threw a career-high 12 strikeouts over five innings of work, but the Marlins lost 4-3 to the Los Angeles Angels in walk-off fashion and were swept in the two-game series.
Tyler Wade, who pinch-ran for Jack Mayfield, scored the winning run after stealing second, reaching third on a wild pitch and coming home on a Max Stassi fielder’s choice in the ninth inning against Anthony Bender to seal the Angels’ win. Miguel Rojas bobbled the ball Stassi hit and couldn’t get the throw home in time.
Miami’s bullpen gave up three runs, with Anthony Rendon hitting a two-run home run against Tanner Scott in the sixth.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a game-tying home run in the seventh before the Angels won in the ninth.
Miami went 1-4 on this season-opening road trip. The Angels are 3-3.That performance puts his name in the Marlins’ record books in a few categories.
— It’s the most strikeouts in franchise history for a Marlins pitcher in an outing of five innings or fewer.
— It’s tied for the most strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher in Marlins history, matching the previous mark set by Dontrelle Willis (Oct. 2, 2005, and Sept. 10, 2006) and Wei-Yin Chen (May 11, 2016).
— It tied the franchise record for strikeouts through the first five innings of a game, joining Ricky Nolasco (Sept. 30, 2009) and A.J. Burnett (July 6, 2005).
The record-setting strikeout came against Andrew Velazquez, who followed through on a check swing attempt at a curveball in the dirt that got away from catcher Jacob Stallings. As Stallings made the throw to first to secure the final out of the fifth inning, Luzardo pumped his fist into his glove in celebration and looked up to the sky before making his way to the dugout.
It was the latest step in the right direction for Luzardo after impressing during spring training.
He allowed just one run on two hits and a walks. Jack Mayfield’s triple on a ball to right field that skipped past Brian Anderson scored Mike Trout in the fourth.
Other than that, Luzardo was downright dominant in his season debut.
He used his fastball up in the zone to set up his curveball low. Angels hitters swung at 13 of his 38 curveballs. They whiffed on 12 of those 13 swings. Nine of his 12 strikeouts ended with that pitch — six swinging, three looking.
“He’s special when it clicks,” Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said during spring training. “Big upside. Players sometimes will let you know when they’re ready to overcome things and take off.”
Luzardo has the remnants 2021 season to overcome. His 12 starts after being acquired by the Marlins in the Starling Marte trade with the Oakland Athletics last July were mostly starts to forget. He had a 6.64 ERA and 1.60 walks and hits per inning pitched in that stretch — a dozen-game sample size he said doesn’t reflect who he can truly be when things are working right.
“Last year was so frustrating for me,” Luzardo said during spring training. “I felt like I was just — not weak-minded but things spiraled out of control. This offseason really kind of got me locked back in.”
He impressed during spring training, showing command with his fastball that hits the upper 90s and poise when he had traffic on the basepaths — his two biggest weak spots from last season.
The Marlins hoped it would translate into the regular season.
Tuesday was just one start, but it was a positive showing.
“His stuff’s so electric,” Stottlemyre said. “We wait for that moment for where we all can go ‘OK, he’s got a handle on it. Now he can go.’ We saw Sandy [Alcantara] go last year, and we’ll continue to see Sandy and Pablo [Lopez] go. Now, we’re trying to get Luzardo in that ‘go mode,’ meaning be productive and not beat yourself. He’s working on that part. It’s hard for him because he’s wired to go and throw hard. We want to balance that. Make pitches and not beat yourself and put yourself in a position to win games.”
