PHILADELPHIA — Phillies manager Rob Thomson was ejected in the top of the fourth after his soon-to-be beaten and battered starting pitcher had a questionable balk called against him. Third base umpire Derek Thomas believed Luzardo stopped at the top of his leg lift. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that,” Thomson said.

Jesús Luzardo didn’t need to look at the numbers to know that Saturday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers was the worst outing of his career. Over 3 1/3 innings, the 27-year-old gave up a career-high 12 earned runs on 12 hits. His stellar 2.15 season ERA ballooned to 3.58. He was called for a balk for the first time in two years. He was the losing pitcher for the first time in his Phillies career. His team lost 17-7.

The most frustrating part? Luzardo said this is the best he has felt in the last six weeks.

“Might come as a surprise, but my body felt great,” Luzardo said. “My arm felt great. That’s why I think it’s as frustrating as it is.”

The balk negated a pickoff play that would have led to the first out of an inning that was already off to an unfortunate start. The leadoff batter Sal Frelick was credited with a double after a softly hit fly ball deflected off the glove of Castellanos. Thomson thought it was Marsh’s ball, and that the center fielder should have called him off. A throwing error by Luzardo on a bunt by Caleb Durbin led to a fifth run for the Brewers.

Luzardo was behind in the count to the No. 8 batter Joey Ortiz before Durbin tried to go to second base. He walked him, and it led to first and second with no outs with five runs already on Luzardo’s ledger. With Luzardo’s pitch count at 55 and the bullpen taxed in recent days, the Phillies wanted to see Luzardo get out of it. After getting to a 2-2 count against Brice Turang, Luzardo threw two consecutive balls to load the bases with the top of the order due up. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham came out for a mound visit.

Luzardo missed a chance to see his way out of the inning when a ball up the middle scooted just past his glove. If he made the play, he could have had a 1-2-3 double play and two outs with runners on second and third. Instead, the ball glanced off a diving Bryson Stott’s glove, and two more runs scored.

Cotham went to the phone after a William Contreras RBI single made it 8-0. Joe Ross began warming up. Luzardo was able to get Hoskins into an 0-2 count, but the former Phillie crushed a fastball that caught too much of the plate for his second three-run home run of the game.

For those who have had the pleasure of watching Luzardo dominate opposing teams for the first two months of the season, it was stunning to see him struggle as badly as he did. For those that have grown to love Luzardo’s fiery competitiveness, it was a shame to see one bad outing taint his season line.

“You’re thinking the way he grinds and the way he battles and competes, you’re thinking he is going to get out of it,” Thomson said. “Also, we want to save the bullpen as much as we could.”

Earned run average became a stat in 1912. Wins and losses have become less relevant in recent years, but ERA is still king. Low ERAs win Cy Young Awards. They also get pitchers to the All-Star Game. Whether that is the right way to look at things is an interesting debate.

Another interesting debate: Should the Phillies have pulled Luzardo before a poor start became historically bad?

It’s a tricky situation for Thomson and bench coach Mike Calitri, who took over after Thomson’s ejection. A Phillies starter has not completed six innings since Tuesday. They badly needed length out of Luzardo. The Phillies likely wanted to stay away from using any leverage arms. A pair of relievers Thomson would use in “down” situations, Max Lazar and Carlos Hernandez, got a combined 11 outs for the team the night before and were likely unavailable.

The result of Luzardo wearing it is an ERA 1.43 points higher than the one he entered the day with. Luzardo before Saturday was eighth among qualified major league starters in ERA. He’s now at 46.

Was there any thought of pulling Luzardo out of respect for the clean numbers he has put up so far? Does it really matter?

If ERA wasn’t the most commonly cited statistic for measuring pitcher performance, this debate wouldn’t matter. But it is. It’s not fair to Luzardo, but what happened on Saturday will impact the way his season is measured against others.

“Statistics matter,” Thomson said. “You want your guys to have great years. At some point too, you’ve got to battle through things, and you’ve got to do it for your teammates. You’ve got to strike that balance.”

Consider it an amazing development for the Phillies if Luzardo stays healthy and is in the Cy Young conversation in September.

Ironically enough, Thomson’s last ejection came when Orioles hitters roughed up Zack Wheeler to the tune of eight runs on Father’s Day 2024. He finished second in the Cy Young to Chris Sale, and if you do the math, you can argue that the one bad outing cost him the award. Wheeler allowed a home run in each of the first three innings, but the Phillies tried to get him through five. Wheeler allowed four more runs in the fifth before being replaced by Spencer Turnbull.

For now, the Phillies need Luzardo to bounce back. He’ll have a better matchup next time around with the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

“That’s what they pay us for,” Luzardo said.