It was a battle of two hurlers facing off against their former teams Tuesday night at the yard.

Jesús Luzardo took the ball for the Phillies against his old team, the Marlins, who traded him to Philadelphia two winters ago. And the local boy, Tyler Phillips, faced the team he grew up rooting for.

The 28-year-old Phillips, who grew up a massive Phillies fan, was selected off waivers by Philadelphia from the Rangers in July 2021.

After spending a few years in the club’s minor league system, the Phillies were looking for pitching depth in 2024. Taijuan Walker and Spencer Turnbull were both on the injured list, so they turned to the Lumberton native.

He struggled overall, but delivered a memorable complete-game shutout against the Guardians at Citizens Bank Park, the first by a Phillies rookie since 2016 and the fourth since 1996.

Right before the 2025 season began, the Phillies traded Phillips to the Marlins for cash. He found a home in Miami’s bullpen, posting a 2.78 ERA in 77 2/3 innings last year.

And entering Tuesday, he had dazzled in 2026.

Hoisting a 1.86 ERA, Phillips was one of two pitchers to throw at least 45 innings, allow 10 or fewer runs and strike out 40 or more batters.

So against the Phillies, it was really a matchup of one pitcher pitching at home and another who has struggled mightily at his home park this year.

It was Luzardo and the Phillies who took the series and the affair, a convincing 8-2 victory on one of the most beautiful days of the year.

How’d it go down?

ZEUS DOMINATES

The one thing that has gotten in the way of Luzardo’s home starts in 2026 has been the home run ball. In 38 home innings, he had allowed seven homers entering the start. On the road, it was just one in 40 2/3 innings.

This time around, he did cough up a homer.

But the Phillies provided a bevy of run support, and Luzardo controlled just about everything else.

His outing was powered by his ability to get ahead. Luzardo threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 28 batters he faced, an 87 percent clip.

Against a lineup that featured six right-handed hitters, including one switch-hitter, that was important. Six of the seven homers he had allowed at home this year had come against right-handed hitters.

Luzardo had fallen behind too often in counts during home starts, putting opponents in advantageous hitters’ counts. That forced him to lean on his fastball, and it got hit hard.

Getting ahead Tuesday allowed him to work into counts where he could go to his sweeper-changeup combo, the best layer of diversity in his mix.

By the end of the night, just five of Miami’s 16 batted balls against Luzardo were hit hard. It was reflected in his final line: seven innings, five hits, one run and nine strikeouts. 109 pitches.

THE FIRST-INNING APPROACH

The book on Phillips, in a sense, was out.

Entering the start, his 1.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio would have been the second worst in baseball if he had enough innings to qualify.

So the Phillies worked their at-bats and stayed patient from the jump.

Brandon Marsh led off the game with a four-pitch walk. Two batters later, Bryce Harper worked a five-pitch walk. Then, with runners on, the Phillies went to work.

Alec Bohm took two called strikes, then Phillips tried to come back in with a sinker on the hands. Bohm brought his hands in and blooped one into right.

1-0, Phillies.

Then Bryson Stott caught a hanging sweeper low in the zone and laced it off Monty’s Angle.

A run-scoring, bases-clearing triple. 3-0.

Bohm and Stott, especially, have quietly provided some of the best production in the Phillies’ lineup. Over their last 15 games, the two have combined for a .284/.345/.490 slash line with 12 extra-base hits in 102 at-bats.

Not too shabby.

And that was enough run support alone for Luzardo.

Just three batters after Brandon Marsh crushed a two-run homer, Alec Bohm does the same! ALL Phillies on Tuesday night.

LEFT THE YARD

Then the Phillies started playing their game. Leaving the yard.

That’s been their game since Don Mattingly took over. Since April 28, the Phillies have hit the most home runs in the National League. They’re 7-1 in games where they leave the yard three times.

They also have the most quality starts.

Those two things have gone hand-in-hand, and they did again Tuesday.

After the three-run first, the Phillies added four more in the second. Marsh got ahead 3-1 against Phillips, then did what he has done so well.

He went the other way. Marsh got a sinker in the middle of the plate and dropped it just over the 387-foot marker in left-center.

Then Phillips fell behind again.

This time to Bohm.

The first two pitches were out of the zone, a sweeper and a splitter. Then came a sinker in, which Bohm pulled and smoked out to left-center for a 447-foot homer.

A moonshot.

And another example of Bohm’s successful swing to the pull side.

Kyle Schwarber, the first baseman, would later lace his 25th homer of the season in the fourth. He’s the only Phillie ever to have tally 25 homers before the All-Star break. Ryan Howard had done it twice.

The Phillies’ starting pitching has done a great job handling one of the peskier lineups in the game, and it has received plenty of run support the last two nights.

They’ll go for the sweep Wednesday with Andrew Painter on the hill.