PHILADELPHIA, PA — With all that occurred in Sunday afternoon’s series finale at Citizens Bank Park, the good, bad and ugly, the Phillies had to pull out a W against the Blue Jays.
A much needed 7-6 victory as Derek Hill ended it for Philadelphia (63-56) on a 12th inning walk-off single to avoid a series sweep at the hands of Toronto (56-63).
A three hour and 30 minute marathon may one add and at times for Phillies fans, 40,398 of those in attendance, they’d describe it as an appointment at the dentist.
In other words, pulling out teeth.
“Today, we hung in. A little Utley Philly toughness today hanging in that game,” said interim manager Don Mattingly after Sunday’s walk-off win as the franchise inducted Chase Utley into the Phillies’ Wall of Fame over the weekend.
“We got some big innings and had chances and to get kicked in the gut and still bounce back, it’s what you like to see. It’s the kind of game that you are going to have to win and feel like you are going to be playing in down the stretch. Every win, every win is good.”
With Sunday afternoon’s win against the Blue Jays, the Phillies improved to 63-56 on the year, which currently ties Philadelphia with the Diamondbacks for the second/third NL Wild Card spots – Image Credit: Maz Adams/Latino Sports
With Jesús Luzardo handling his business on the bump (10-5, 3.32 ERA), completing seven innings of two-run ball with a dozen strikeouts—which marked the fifth consecutive month the All-Star left-hander’s recorded at least one outing of double-digit strikeouts, and Kyle Schwarber leaving the yard twice, his first HR(s) since July 18th—all looked good in The City of Brotherly Love.
Then as Luzardo finished off his dominant performance (100 pitches, 70 for strikes), up 5-2, the bad and ugly quickly appeared as Philadelphia’s bullpen blew a three-run lead from there.
Jesús Luzardo had yet another dominant outing Sunday afternoon, recording 12 strikeouts over seven innings against Toronto with two runs allowed on four hits and a walk – Image Credit: Maz Adams/Latino Sports
Allowing Toronto to get right back in it in the eighth inning—all with two outs resulting in no win for Luzardo—was reliever Orion Kerkering, surrendering back-to-back singles to Alejandro Kirk and Kazuma Okamoto followed by Ernie Clement doubling to score Kirk and Andrés Giménez delivering a game-tying two RBI single.
More ugly ensued soon after.
Down 5-2, the Blue Jays found some momentum at the plate in the eighth inning to rally from behind and tie the game at five – Image Credit: Maz Adams/Latino Sports
While Philadelphia’s offense (5-15 with RISP and 16 left on base) remained cold for most of the day besides Schwarber as well as Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott recording two hits a piece, Mattingly went on to use four relievers across the next four innings in RHP Jhoan Durán (9th), LHP Tim Mayza (10th), LHP Brooks Raley (11th) and RHP Caleb Killian (12th).
“They keep pressure on you and they keep playing. They’re tough, they put balls in play,” said Mattingly of Toronto, a team he coached on the bench from 2023-2025.
“The Kerky (Kerkering) inning where he gets two outs and four hits, I don’t think anything got over 70 miles an hour (exit velocity). It’s crazy what’s going on, but again, we hang in there.”
Despite a tough 2026 season after appearing in the 2025 World Series, the Blue Jays still show the same fight late in games as a year ago – Image Credit: Maz Adams/Latino Sports
As Toronto’s offense continued to pile on with more pressure late in Sunday’s series finale, Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber and the bullpen had a different plan which was not providing anything in the zone to Bryce Harper, who recorded four walks in the win—his first four walk game since May 8th, 2016 and just the fourth of his 15-year MLB career.
Perhaps Schwarber, despite going homerless since July 18th prior to Sunday, should have been in Toronto’s aforementioned plan instead of Harper.
Either way, that’s baseball.
Before Sunday’s series finale between Toronto and Philadelphia, Kyle Schwarber, going yard twice in the win, had not hit a home run since July 18th – Image Credit: Maz Adams/Latino Sports
And whichever way an opposing team draws it up, with those two, Trea Turner and Luis Arráez now in the fold, building familiarity together and stability in the lineup each day, the challenge to neutralize the top of Philadelphia’s lineup will become more and more difficult down the stretch.
“I feel like that is the mentality we’re going to need to have. You know, not everything is always going to be easy. No one is going out there to fail, everyone’s trying to go out there and do their job and have success,” said Schwarber, now with 35 home runs on the year, tied for MLB’s lead with Yordan Álvarez of the Astros.
“When that doesn’t happen—to have guys behind them step up and throw up some zeros and give us more time to get out there and and finally push across that final run and just overall—I feel like it’s going to be really helpful for us as we keep moving through this and get to where we want to go.”
The Summer of Jesús
Since June 10th, Luzardo’s 14th start of 2026 where at that point he had a 4.56 ERA and stood 7-6, the 28-year-old Venezuelan-Peruvian born southpaw has put up numbers that places him amongst the best in the game.
Earned Runs allowed since June 10th in each outing: 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 6, 0, 2
With Sunday’s no decision, Jesús Luzardo now stands 10-5 on the season across 24 starts, with a 3.32 ERA (9th in NL) and 176 strikeouts (2nd in NL) – Image Credit: Maz Adams/Latino Sports
So, 16 total runs surrendered by Luzardo in his last 11 outings (6-1) with 96 strikeouts over 65.2 innings.
“Thankfully I feel good and healthy so I look forward to finishing strong the rest of the year and then at the end of October,” noted Luzardo. So does all of Philadelphia.
With Luzardo (2023 NL LatinoMVP Pitcher of the Year) firing on all cylinders along with Cristopher Sánchez (2025 NL LatinoMVP Pitcher of the Year) and Zack Wheeler, the Phillie trio of starters may just be the best 1-2-3 in all of MLB down the stretch and to match up with against the Dodgers in October.
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