Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani were both in their respective lineups.
Yet it was Jesús Luzardo's show.
The lefthander who impressed in his Phillies debut a week ago in Washington, one-upped himself taking the mound at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night against the National League's immediate juggernaut.
He blanked the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers for seven innings, leading the Phillies' effort to hand them their first loss of the season, 3-2, and all as the Phils improved on their own tear to start the season to 6-1.
Luzardo struck out eight while allowing only two hits and just two walks.
He came out throwing heat with a fastball that topped out at 98.6 miles per hour, then tied L.A.'s star-studded lineup up with his offspeed pitches that left them whiffing at balls in the dirt.
Ohtani went 0-for-3 against Luzardo and went down swinging in the sixth. Mookie Betts went 0-for-3 with a K against the lefty, too.
Teoscar Hernández was the only Dodgers hitter who managed to solve anything against Luzardo, accounting for both hits he surrendered, but they only went so far.
In the seventh, with Luzardo and the Phillies holding on to a narrow 1-0 lead, Hernández put a fly ball in no-man's land that neither Nick Castellanos nor Bryson Stott could get to in right field. Hernández stretched that into a double, Will Smith drew a walk right after, and then Hernández stole third to put the tying run run 90 feet away in a two-out situation.
But Luzardo didn't blink.
Kiké Hernández was at the plate and had struck out swinging twice already. Luzardo worked ahead into a 1-2 count, and after Hernández battled for the next three pitches to even it, the lefty delivered one last nasty slider to punch in a third strikeout for Hernández and the completion of seven major innings for the Phils.
Jesús Luzardo's 8th K. ✝️🦎
With just the crowd noise. pic.twitter.com/NqG4p8ARLq— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 5, 2025
It was clutch from the still newly arrived Phillie, an early-season statement against baseball's best, and as Luzardo said in the clubhouse postgame, maybe one of the best starts of the 27-year-old's career.
"I was talking to [pitching coach Caleb Cotham], it was probably one of my most well-executed starts I've ever had in my career," Luzardo said.
"He was able to mix his pitches well tonight," said catcher J.T. Realmuto, who also played a big defensive role in Friday night's win. "He was ahead of guys all night long, throwing a lot of strikes, mixing the sweeper and slider together, the changeup looked great. He really just had everything going."
Which left the previously undefeated Dodgers with nothing.
You can run…
Well, until the Phillies reached into the bullpen.
Matt Strahm got the call for the eighth and then got backed into a jam.
Miguel Rojas managed a one-out hit, and then after Andy Pages struck out, Ohtani finally found his break with a single into right that was able to push Rojas over to third.
Manager Rob Thomson made the switch to José Ruiz to face Betts, and maybe somewhere in that pause, baseball's megastar opted to get greedy.
In a 1-1 count, Ohtani took off for second. Ruiz got the pitch in quick, and Realmuto from behind the plate sprang up and fired the throw to second. Stott, covering the base, got the tag in. Ohtani got up from the slide and looked up in disbelief upon the umpire's call. Inning over.
Do they not know? Have they not heard? pic.twitter.com/Wrmy7XhDV7
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 5, 2025
Then Realmuto did it again to end the game.
Jordan Romano came in to close out the ninth, but immediately fell into trouble when Tommy Edman connected on a two-run homer to cut the lead to one.
The reliever followed with a crucial strikeout of Teoscar Hernández for the first out, but then walked Smith to put the tying run on, with Max Muncy due up to pinch hit while Chris Taylor came off the bench to pinch run.
To all of Romano's credit, he kept his composure and got Muncy to strike out swinging on four pitches for the second out.
Taylor tried his luck taking off for second on that last pitch, but Realmuto had his throw queued up again.
Trea Turner made the tag. The umpire initially ruled Taylor safe, but Thomson immediately called for a review, and after checking the tape, the ruling was overturned. Game over.
With two pivotal throws late, Realmuto stopped the Dodgers dead in their tracks, but just not before a pause for the dramatics on the latter.
"Honestly, I kind of move on," Realmuto said of the review on that last throw. "I was talking with Romano about how we were going to attack the next guy, just because I wasn't sure they were going to overturn it. I wasn't watching, but I heard [the umpire] say 'out' and…good feeling."
Strike 'em out, throw 'em out, send 'em home pic.twitter.com/XlDMdNtkzc
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 5, 2025
Realmuto needed an injury pause in between there, too. He cut his finger opening a glass water bottle during the eighth, "like a little paper cut," he said.
During the ninth, it opened up and bled, and Realmuto had to run off to the side real quick so that a trainer could close it up.
Soon after, there he was gunning down Taylor to end the game.
Clearly, it had no effect on his throw.
"No, it's literally just like the smallest cut," Realmuto said in the clubhouse after. "Can't even feel it, it was just bleeding."
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