You could feel the air leave the balloon before the third inning was even over.
A series that started with a six-run bang on Tuesday ended with a whimper on Thursday afternoon, as the Phillies were flattened by the Blue Jays, 9–1, at Rogers Centre—dropping their sixth game in the last seven tries and heading home looking nothing like the club that was bulldozing opponents a month ago.
Bo Bichette blasted a two-run homer. Myles Straw and Tyler Heineman combined for four hits and six RBIs. Toronto had nine runs before the Phillies could blink.
The Phillies, who came into Toronto riding a streak of five straight road series wins, looked out of sync from the jump - offensively, defensively, and everywhere in between. They went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They managed just four total runs across the final 26 innings of the series. And Thursday’s lone run? An RBI single from Kyle Schwarber that briefly made it 4–1 in the third before things unraveled again.
Toronto teed off on left-hander Jesús Luzardo, who was making his second start since giving up a career-worst 12 earned runs to Milwaukee. The bounce-back never came. Luzardo recorded just seven outs while allowing nine hits and eight earned runs—the second straight start he failed to make it out of the third inning.
The second inning was the beginning of the end. Straw and Heineman each smacked RBI doubles, and Bichette followed with a no-doubt shot to left—his eighth of the season—to make it 4–0. In the third, it got worse. Straw punched a two-run single, and two more runs came home when Trea Turner lost track of a fly ball in shallow left that somehow turned into a two-run double.
Alejandro Kirk added three hits of his own, part of a 14-hit afternoon for the Blue Jays, who took the series two games to one.
Nick Castellanos was a lone bright spot, collecting three of Philadelphia’s eight hits. But the Phils looked every bit like a team pressing—taking big swings, making little contact, and leaving too many chances on the bases.
And then, of course, came the moment that’s becoming all too familiar in lopsided losses: a position player on the mound. This time it was Weston Wilson, who tossed a clean eighth inning, because why not?
Chris Bassitt (6–3) scattered five hits over seven strong innings for Toronto and didn’t walk a single batter. He's now won three of his last four starts.
The Fall of Luzardo
So here’s a sentence you’ve never read before, because it’s never been true until now: Jesús Luzardo just became the first pitcher in major league history to give up 20 earned runs in a two-start span that didn’t even add up to six innings. That’s not a typo. That actually happened. Over those two outings, his WHIP ballooned to 4.58, which is more of a flight path than a pitching metric. And just to really drive it home: in his first 11 starts of the year, he gave up just 16 earned runs with a tidy 1.18 WHIP. So yes, this is a sudden plot twist no one saw coming.Up Next
Joe Ross will start for the Phillies on Friday as the club opens a weekend series in Pittsburgh.
