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 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 been dominant in 2026.

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

So against the Phillies, it was a matchup of one pitcher facing his former team at home and another returning to face the team he once rooted for.

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

How’d it go down?

ZEUS LOOKS STRONG

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 cough up another homer.

But it came long after 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, a 75 percent clip.

“Zeus was good,” Don Mattingly said. “A little bit like [Zack Wheeler] last night. He walks the first guy, gets out of that and then we’re able to score early. Him throwing zeros, we score again, and from there, [he’s] kind of cruising along.”

Against a lineup that featured six right-handed hitters, including one switch-hitter, getting ahead was important.

Luzardo had fallen behind too often in counts during other 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.

“After the first, I feel like I really found a groove getting back in the zone,” Luzardo said. “I kind of lost it there at the beginning, then made some adjustments and felt way better.”

By the end of the night, just five of Miami’s 16 batted balls against Luzardo were hit hard. Two came in the seventh inning. His final line: seven innings, five hits, one run, nine strikeouts and 109 pitches.

Luzardo said after his last start in Toronto that he believed his home-road splits were mostly coincidence. Tuesday was a good step toward proving it.

“It feels great,” Luzardo said. “I know I could do it. I just really think it’s a coincidence. Obviously, no one wants to pitch bad, especially at home, but the routine stays the same. Today, I felt really good. So hopefully, I keep building on that.”

An Alec Bohm RBI single and a Bryson Stott triple cap off the Phillies first inning

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.

“I thought the first inning was really good,” Mattingly said. “Right out of the gate, I think we did a nice job with their guy.”

He’s a guy that usually works the ball down. If you chase him down, you’re going to be in trouble. We pushed him up enough in the zone to get pitches we could do something with.”

Schwarber saw the same thing from the dugout.

“We know Phillips and know that he’s having a really good year,” Kyle Schwarber said. “To keep the pressure on him from the first inning on is always a good thing. Then we were able to get Zeus settled in.”

It’s key to note that 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.

“It gives the pitchers a little bit more freedom to attack the zone,” Luzardo said.

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.

Hitting long balls.

That’s been their game since Mattingly took over. Since April 28, the Phillies have hit the most home runs in the National League. They are 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. Seven runs in the first two innings.

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

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

Marsh, hitting leadoff with Trea Turner out of the lineup, reached three times and helped set the tone at the top.

“It just shows what kind of team we have,” Marsh said. “Last night, it was the bottom half. Tonight, top half. It’s just a testament to the guys we have in this clubhouse and the way we feed off each other.

“It’s not going to be everyone’s night every night. Some other guys are going to have to step up when others don’t.”

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.