Phillies' Jesus Luzardo makes wrong kind of personal history in first start since $135M deal

The Philadelphia Phillies have been one of the top contenders in Major League Baseball recently, and one of the big reasons why has been their starting rotation.

Even with Zack Wheeler out for a little while, the Phillies still can rely on Cristopher Sanchez, Aaron Nola, and Jesus Luzardo after his $135 million extension.

However, in Luzardo's first start since that $135M deal, he set some personal history that is far from ideal. As The Athletic's Matt Gelb shared, Luzardo's already matched his home-run allowed total in four innings that he had in eight starts last year.

Jesus Luzardo gets off to a bad start in 2026

"Jesus Luzardo has allowed two homers in the first four innings today," Gelb writes. "He did not allow his second homer until his eighth start in 2025 (May 8)."

Looking back at Luzardo's start to 2025, he gave up a home run in his first start with the Phillies on March 29th, but didn't give up his second homer until May 8th.

It took over a month for Luzardo to give up two home runs last season. It's taken him just four innings to do so this season.

Coming off a massive $135 million extension, one that could be seen as a steal compared to other top-tier lefty pitchers and their contracts, this is a very poor start.

More: Jesus Luzardo’s $135 million extension is a steal for Phillies

It's only one start, so it's not a reason to panic about Luzardo regressing or being a bad pitcher all of a sudden. But, coming off a solid year and a $135 million extension, this isn't the kind of start Luzardo or the Phillies wanted for the lefty.

Paul Skenes, who won the NL Cy Young Award in 2025, allowed the same amount of earned runs (five) as Luzardo did on these two home runs in less than an inning of work against the New York Mets

Sure, this isn't a good way to begin the year for the Phillies lefty. But Luzardo can still bounce back from this poor start and turn in a quality season befitting his $135 million extension.

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