Luzardo torrid again, throwing eight scoreless innings as Marlins shut out Brewers 1-0
Opening Day starter scoreless streak at 14 innings and ERA trimmed to 0.92 since return from injured list
MIAMI (AP) — Jesús Luzardo threw eight scoreless innings of three-hit ball in his longest career start and the Miami Marlins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered for the only run of the game as the Marlins won their third consecutive series.
The game was completed in 1 hour and 54 minutes.
Luzardo (2-3) struck out four and retired 17 straight until Gary Sanchez’s one-out single in the eighth. Jackson Chourio reached on a fielder’s choice then stole second before Luzardo finished his outing by retiring Owen Miller on a fly out to short right.
“The strikeouts for me — blowing people away — it’s not that important,” Luzardo said. “It’s more of getting deeper in the game, giving our team a chance to compete and saving the bullpen.”
In three starts since returning from the injured list May 11, Luzardo has allowed two runs over 19 2/3 innings. Luzardo also is not making fastball speed the top priority.
“I have spoken to veteran pitchers and they suggest that it’s not about throwing hard but locating pitches,” Luzardo said. “That is what helps you get the outs quicker.”
Tanner Scott got the first two outs in the ninth before William Contreras reached on an infield single. Scott retired Christian Yelich on a force out for his sixth save.
“Just a well-played game but Jesús is the story,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “He was pitching tonight, not just rip it and rip it.”
The Marlins (17-34) improved to 10-10 in May.
“We’re not surprised right now that we’re winning,” Chisholm said. “We’re a good team and we have to go out and play good baseball and winning baseball. That’s what we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks.”
The NL Central-leading Brewers (28-21) had one threat against Luzardo in the second, when Willy Adames and Sánchez singled. But Luzardo retired Joey Ortiz on a pop out, struck out Jackson Chourio then caught Adames on an unsuccessful steal attempt at third to end the inning.
Brewers starter Freddy Peralta also had a dominant outing as he limited Miami to one run and four hits over seven innings. Peralta (3-3) walked one and struck out seven.
“Freddy was magnificent,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Their kid deserves a lot of credit. He was great. He was all over us all night — ahead in the count. We couldn’t get anything going.”
Chisholm gave the Marlins a quick lead with his leadoff shot in the first. He drove Peralta’s fastball over the wall in right-field for his seventh homer of the season.
“I thought we were going to have a good game but the pitchers went out there and did their thing,” Chisholm said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: RHP DL Hall (left knee sprain) will have his innings workload increased with each additional minor league rehab outing.
Marlins: RHP Bryan Hoeing (left hamstring strain) allowed one run over two innings in a rehab appearance with Triple-A Jacksonville on Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Bryse Wilson (2-1, 2.79 ERA) will start the opener of a three-game series at Boston on Friday. RHP Kutter Crawford (2-2, 2.17) will start for the Red Sox.
Marlins: LHP Braxton Garrett (0-0, 10.24) will start Friday, when Miami opens a three-game series at Arizona. The Diamondbacks have not announced a starter.
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