Jesus Luzardo has had a week most pitchers dream about. He found out he made his first All-Star team as an injury replacement, then went out against the Reds and made it look like he was auditioning for the honor all over again. But it wasn't just the strikeouts that had people talking by the time he walked off the mound Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park -- it was who he was staring at when he did it.
Jesús Luzardo is not happy with someone in the Reds dugout. https://t.co/jha0rKkQMB
The flashpoint came early, with Luzardo pointing toward the Cincinnati bench and looking like he wanted to walk over and settle something in person. It wasn't a full-blown incident -- more a slow burn that kept building as he racked up strikeout after strikeout against the same team that had roughed up Philadelphia's pitching staff the night before. Whatever was said, it stuck with him.
He didn't let it go by the time the game ended, either. Cameras caught him still chirping in the direction of the Reds' bench as he came off the field, a parting shot after a night where he'd clearly won the argument on the scoreboard.
Jesús Luzardo had a few words for the Reds' bench as he left the field https://t.co/sVSsSs99J7
The strikeouts kept piling up the entire time, which only made the back-and-forth funnier. Luzardo worked through the Reds' lineup with his sweeper doing most of the damage, racking up strikeouts deep into the game and giving Cincinnati hitters nothing to do but watch from the dugout he was already annoyed with.
Jesús Luzardo's 11th K. ✝️🦎 https://t.co/fd9Zd8mClS
By the final line, Luzardo had struck out 11 over 7 scoreless innings, and the Phillies squeaked out a 1-0 win to take the series. It was the kind of outing that gets you a bulletin-board moment and a highlight reel in the same night -- and reporters weren't about to let him skip past the dugout stuff postgame.
Luzardo discussed what happened with the Reds dugout. https://t.co/S3AtHJ2XIr
Luzardo went ahead and explained what set him off rather than letting the clips speak for themselves, which is usually the smarter move once a moment like this starts circulating. It's a low-stakes flare-up in the grand scheme -- nobody charged anybody, no benches emptied -- but it's the kind of thing that follows a pitcher around, especially one who just got tapped for his first All-Star Game and is suddenly getting a lot more attention than usual. Expect the Reds to have their own version of the story the next time these two teams meet.