Jesus Luzardo’s strong start in Oakland return a reminder of why Marlins traded for him

Jesus Luzardo in general has an extra jolt of energy whenever it’s his day to pitch. He shows his emotions on the field, making his feelings known with each big moment.

But as he stepped on the mound Wednesday as the Miami Marlins wrapped up their three-game road series with the Oakland Athletics, he knew he’d need to find a way to keep his emotions in check. He has had this day on his mind for a while now.

Here he was, getting ready to face his former team for the first time nearly 13 months — the team that developed him, gave him the chance to make his MLB debut and trusted him to make playoff starts in both 2019 and 2020 — after Oakland traded him to his hometown Marlins for outfielder Starling Marte as the Athletics tried to make another playoff push in 2021 that fell short.

Luzardo remains grateful for the opportunities the Athletics provided him, but remains quick to admit that the trade, in the moment, caught him by surprise.

“I felt like they gave up on me, which was like a punch in the face and a wake-up to reality,” Luzardo said Monday, the Marlins’ first day at RingCentral Coliseum. “At the end of the day, it probably helped me out and helped me kick it into high gear.”

While the Marlins lost 3-2 in 10 innings on Wednesday in Luzardo’s return to the Bay Area, the 24-year-old lefty certainly gave the Athletics a reminder of how good he can be.

Luzardo had a no-hitter going through five innings and held Oakland to two runs overall while pitching a career-high-tying seven innings.

“I felt like once I got the first pitch out of the way,” Luzardo said, “I was back to normal.”

It’s the latest breakout start in the midst of a breakout season for Luzardo, a Parkland native and Stoneman Douglas High alumnus playing for the team he grew up cheering for.

He’s pitching to a 3.14 ERA through 11 starts — a number that drops to 2.67 in his five starts in August since returning from a two-and-a-half-month injured list stint due to a left forearm strain — and is holding opponents to a .167 batting average against.

Luzardo’s continued growth that, should it continue, gives the Marlins yet another valuable weapon in their rotation to go along with the likes of Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez and Edward Cabrera. He is under team control through the 2026 season.

“I really liked the trade last year,” general manager Kim Ng said, “and I really, really like the trade now. Jesus last year had some bumps in the road, but I feel like he’s really settled in. He did a lot of work this offseason. He looks much more settled in, more comfortable.”

Those bumps in the road? Luzardo had a 6.44 ERA in his 12 starts with the Marlins after the trade. He gave up at least four runs while pitching five innings or fewer in half of those starts. He struggled when he got into jams. The struggles were as mental — if not more — as they were mechanical.

Over the offseason, he sat back and went through the frustrating aspects of his 2021 season and analyzed what went wrong and what he needed to do to remedy the situation.

Now?

“I feel like I’m more mature,” Luzardo said earlier this month. “I took my beating last year, time and time again, and I feel like games [where I struggle] aren’t getting to be anymore. I’m not necessarily saying I’m happy [when I struggle] ... but at the same time, last year was just beating after beating and I feel like now I understand what my stuff does in the zone and how I can get guys out.”

The results have come with that.

Opponents are having less success against his fastballs (.261 batting average against on the four-seam and .244 on the sinker entering Wednesday compared to .348 and .337, respectively, last season). Opponents are swinging and missing on his changeup nearly 50 percent of the time. His breaking ball has resulted in 35 of his 69 strikeouts.

He’s throwing first-pitch strikes at a 68.5-percent rate — about a 10 percentage point increase from last season (58.4 percent).

“Electric stuff from the left said,” catcher Nick Fortes said. “He’s improved a lot from last year being able to get everything that he throws in the zone. That’s key, getting in good counts and being able to use all your stuff not fighting an uphill battle every at-bat.”

And Luzardo is still finding areas to improve.

Take his final two innings on Wednesday as a prime example.

After holding the Athletics to just one walk through the first five innings, Luzardo ran into trouble in the sixth. He gave up three hits, including a two-out, two run single for the first runs of the game, and needed 30 pitches to get through the frame after throwing just 61 pitches to that point.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly sent Luzardo back out for the seventh inning to give him a chance to end the outing on a high note.

He retired the side on 11 pitches.

“Them giving me the confidence to run back out there and for me to get three-up, three-down right there was huge for me,” Luzardo said.