Phillies Offense Overcomes Shaky Luzardo Start, Put Up 8 Runs in Series Opener vs. White Sox
Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber, right, celebrates his run with J.T. Realmuto, left, on the sacrifice fly by Edmundo Sosa during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Friday, June 5, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
The Phillies offense looked great in consecutive games, more like what many have been accustomed to seeing, including Kyle Schwarber‘s ninth career four-hit game, as the Phils took care of the White Sox 8-6, making them five games above .500 for the first time all season.
Coming off a series win over the San Diego Padres and riding a strong offensive game, the Phillies came in hoping to replicate that against the Chicago White Sox. Even without Japanese phenom Munetaka Murakami in the lineup, the White Sox are a gritty team that feasts on teams that don’t take them seriously.
The White Sox started the scoring in the second inning when Luisangel Acuna doubled and scored Sam Antonacci, then Tristan Peters singled him home, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead in the blink of an eye. That lead didn’t last long, when in the bottom of the inning, Brandon Marsh launched a two-run home run to tie the game. Later in the inning, Alec Bohm drove home Schwarber, and when the second inning ended, the Phils had a 5-2 lead, the second game in a row scoring five runs.
Randal Grichuk added two home runs, as well as a home run from Derek Hill in the sixth, and Colson Montgomery tied the game in the seventh with a broken-bat RBI single. In the next inning, the Phils scored on an impressive slide by Schwarber to break the tie. The Phils added another run on a wild pitch, giving the Phils an 8-6 lead. Jhoan Duran came in to close out the game for his 15th consecutive save of the season.
Marsh Stays Hot
Marsh has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball over the past month, and his hot streak continued, igniting another five-run inning in the second. After J.T. Realmuto walked, Marsh came up and worked a full count on Anthony Kay, and he hit a long fly that initially didn’t look like it had the distance, but it kept going and ended up in the stands for a home run. This tied the game at two at the time and opened the door for the Phils to put up five runs in the inning.
This was the first home run for Marsh off a left-handed pitcher since July 16, 2022, and the first home run that Kay has given up to a left-handed hitter in more than three weeks. Marsh snapped a streak of 90 at-bats without a home run off a left-handed starter. After this game, he adds to his league lead in average, bringing his average up to .336 on the season. Marsh’s approach has been so good this season, thanks in part to his control of the strike zone and how well he commands it. This is a great sign for Marsh and the Phils’ offense at large.
Adolis Garcia Nukes Another
The frustration was starting to show for Garcia every time he stepped to the plate, but against the Padres, he seemed to find something in his swing, and the work he and hitting coach Kevin Long put in made massive strides, culminating in two games with back-to-back home runs and perhaps one of the best bat flips of the season for the Phils.
What has been very promising for Garcia is that he has been hitting the fastball much better, and this is more like the hitter that he has been for his whole career thus far. While that’s promising, what has been the biggest shift in his approach is the way he’s diagnosing pitches out of the zone. When he was in the midst of his worst stretch, he seemed to be off time on everything and guessing, but he appears to be back in control of the zone, and working himself into fastball counts. The Phils need him to start hitting, and it looks like he found his stroke right when the Phils needed it most.
Jesus Luzardo Struggles in Another Outing
Luzardo struggled again in this game, and it was obvious early on that he didn’t have his best control. He was having trouble controlling his sweeper, which is the pitch that he uses to define his outing. If he struggles with the sweeper, he tends to have problems with the changeup, which makes him a more predictable pitcher, which he definitely was in this one, giving up three solo home runs for only the third time in his career. He didn’t have his normal swing-and-miss stuff. He only had two strikeouts against two walks. Further driving the point home was that he only had nine swinging strikes all game.
He did throw six innings, giving up five earned runs on seven hits, which is not his best line of the season, but he did exit the game with a lead. This is hardly a good sign for Luzardo, as his season ERA has ballooned to 4.56 for the season. Since we are in June, there is plenty of cause for concern for Luzardo, and his consistency moving forward, and whether he can find his form moving forward.
The Phils will send out Andrew Painter, taking on Sean Burke, trying to right the ship for the Phillies pitching staff in Game 2 of the series.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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