Jesus Luzardo Facing Pressure To Help Phillies Against Cubs

The Philadelphia Phillies are not playing very good baseball right now. They have a record of 8-14 and are currently riding a six-game losing streak.

If their National League East rivals, the New York Mets, weren’t playing so poorly while riding an 11-game losing streak of their own, there would be a lot more attention on what is going on with the Phillies.

Already 7.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East race, it is way too early to write Philadelphia off completely. But things certainly don’t look good, and the level of concern is certainly on the rise.

Games on April 21 normally don’t carry a ton of weight, but the matchup against the Chicago Cubs is incredibly important for the Phillies. There is a ton of pressure on Jesus Luzardo to have a big game.

Phillies need Jesus Luzardo to step up against Cubs

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo releasing ball. — Mar 12, 2026; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) throws a pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays in the third inning during spring training at BayCare Ballpark. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

One reason is that runs are going to be hard to come by. Philadelphia has been abysmal when facing off against left-handed pitching this season, and they are set to face Shota Imanaga, who diced them up not even a week ago.

When the Phillies and Cubs faced off at Citizens Bank Park on April 15, Imanaga surrendered a leadoff home run to Trea Turner and then shut down Philadelphia. That was the only run he allowed through six innings of work with 11 strikeouts.

Luzardo got roughed up by Chicago in that same game, which was an 11-2 loss. He was charged with eight earned runs, nine total, in 5.1 innings of work. That sent his ERA skyrocketing to a brutal 7.94.

However, there is actually a lot to like about how Luzardo has been throwing the ball this year. Outside of his bloated ERA, everything else looks excellent, including almost all of his peripheral and advanced stats.

Jesús Luzardo, Nasty 87mph Changeup...and Sword. ⚔️✝️🦎 pic.twitter.com/dQCzlc9dj0
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 5, 2026

He is generating strikeouts at an impressive clip with 30 across 22.2 innings. Walks are being limited, and opposing batters aren’t generating a ton of hard contact against Luzardo.

His SEIRA is an elite 2.45, which is third amongst qualified pitchers, behind only Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees and Imanaga. His strikeout-to-walk ratio indicates that better results are on the horizon.

Some bad luck is certainly doing in Luzardo. His batting average on balls in play is an unsustainable .417, and his left-on-base percentage of 41.7% is also well below his career norms. Those should regress to the mean and help get his ERA back in an acceptable range.

The Phillies would love to see that turnaround start against Chicago. Luzardo is a big part of the team’s game plan for success, and the pressure is on for the results to start matching the production.

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