BASEBALL: Phillies turn to improving Jesus Luzardo to kick off Rockies series

Hoping to extend their strong run under a new leadership group, the Philadelphia Phillies continue their six-game homestand on Friday with the series opener against the Colorado Rockies.

Despite a 12-1 loss to the Athletics on Thursday, the Phillies have gone 8-2 since the dismissal of manager Rob Thomson and the promotion of Don Mattingly as interim skipper. Philadelphia is looking to capitalize on a favorable stretch of the schedule, with four of its next five series coming against teams with losing records.

Left-hander Jesús Luzardo (3-3, 5.09 ERA) will take the mound for the Phillies on Friday, aiming to continue his recent resurgence. After a slow start to the season, Luzardo has allowed just three total runs over his last three outings.

In his most recent start on Sunday, he earned his second straight win by tossing 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball while striking out 10 in a 7-2 road victory over the Miami Marlins.

“(Luzardo) has been really good,” Mattingly said. “He hasn’t walked anybody in a couple of games. He’s been in the strike zone, on the attack. I didn’t see him as being bad early in the year. I just felt like there were some innings that got away. It was kind of the way everything was going for us early.”

Luzardo is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in six career appearances (four starts) against Colorado. Earlier this season on April 4, he held the Rockies to one run over 6 2/3 innings while striking out a season-high 11 in a 2-1 win in Denver.

The Rockies, meanwhile, are trying to build momentum after a difficult start to May. Colorado snapped a six-game losing streak on Thursday by rallying for a 6-2 win over the visiting New York Mets, scoring the final six runs of the game.

Jake McCarthy has been one of Colorado’s hottest hitters recently, homering twice and driving in seven runs over the past two games, including a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning on Thursday.

“He’s been swinging the bat really well as of late,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “Huge homer to lift the guys after losing six in a row. You can’t put words together to show how big that was. Good for Jake. Happy for him.”

Colorado will start Chase Dollander (3-2, 3.38 ERA) in the opener, marking just his second traditional start of the season after primarily working in tandem with openers. The 24-year-old lasted 5 1/3 innings in his last outing, allowing six runs on eight hits in a 9-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

“I thought he was just a little behind all day,” Schaeffer said. “It was unusual. He had some walks (a season-high three). The breaking ball and off-speed stuff weren’t getting enough strikes.”

Dollander faced the Phillies for the first time on April 4, taking the loss after allowing one run over 4 1/3 innings in a 2-1 defeat against Luzardo and Philadelphia.

-Field Level Media/Reuters