Jesus Luzardo will be hoping to build on his last start when the left-hander takes the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday against the host Miami Marlins.

That outing Tuesday was not only notable for Luzardo’s performance but also for its timing.

It was the day the Phillies fired manager Rob Thomson and replaced him on an interim basis with Don Mattingly, who had been the team’s bench coach.

Luzardo (2-3, 5.50 ERA) ushered in the new regime by allowing only two hits without a walk and striking out eight over seven innings in a 7-0 win over the visiting San Francisco Giants.

It not only was Mattingly’s Phillies managerial debut but also the first time this season that a Philadelphia starter had gone seven innings.

“News to us, we found out about 30 minutes ago,” Luzardo said after the game about authoring the team’s first seven-inning start in 2026. “We’re looking forward to doing it a lot more.”

Many looked at it as being a potential watershed moment for the Phillies, who began the season 9-19 under Thomson.

“I don’t know about reset, but maybe galvanize the team,” said Luzardo, who was with the Marlins from 2021-24.

Luzardo has 41 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings as he prepares to face his former team for the first time in the third game of a four-game series.

Philadelphia had won four straight under Mattingly before Saturday’s 4-0 loss as three Miami pitchers limited the visitors to one hit. Philadelphia sent only 28 batters to the plate, one over the minimum.

Sunday’s Miami starter, right-hander Chris Paddack (0-4, 6.11), takes the hill following a stellar outing by teammate Max Meyer on Saturday.

Meyer gave up one hit with a walk and seven strikeouts in seven innings in the longest outing of his career. The right-hander threw 83 pitches, 55 for strikes.

Meyer struck out Kyle Schwarber in all three at-bats after Schwarber struck out in all five at-bats in the series opener on Friday, a 6-5 Philadelphia win. The eight consecutive strikeouts tie Schwarber’s career high.

Miami relievers Anthony Bender and Andrew Nardi retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth, respectively, to complete the one-hitter.

The win tied the series, which ends Monday, at one game each.

Paddack received a no-decision Monday against the host Los Angeles Dodgers, a 5-4 Miami loss. Paddack allowed two runs on four hits in four innings with a walk and a strikeout, throwing 67 pitches.

Paddack has faced Philadelphia three times, all when he was on the San Diego Padres. All three were starts, two in 2019 and one in 2021. Paddack is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA, allowing 12 earned runs and 21 hits in 16 innings with two walks and 15 strikeouts.

Phillies center fielder Justin Crawford was a late scratch Saturday because of a migraine.

Before Saturday’s game, Miami optioned left-hander Cade Gibson to Triple-A Jacksonville and selected the contract of right-hander Josh Ekness from Jacksonville. Per MLB Pipeline, Ekness is the Marlins’ No. 30 prospect.

–Field Level Media

Two teams trending in opposite directions meet when the St. Louis Cardinals aim for a sweep of their three-game series against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.

St. Louis beat the Dodgers 3-2 on Saturday for their sixth straight win, while Los Angeles’ offense has gone quiet during its four-game losing streak.

Michael McGreevy tossed six scoreless innings on Saturday to help the Cardinals move a season-best seven games over .500 at 20-13.

“We’re going to give you hell when you play us,” McGreevy said. “There (were) a ton of expectations put on us in the offseason, and it’s been so freeing for the guys just to be able to show up and play.”

Jordan Walker hit his 10th home run of the season Saturday and is 6-for-8 with four RBIs in the first two games of the series.

“It just feels nice that the work that I put in during the offseason is showing up here,” Walker said. “Now the main focus is just keeping it consistent, and it feels like I know what it feels like, so when I get (off track), just get back on.”

The Dodgers have gone five straight games without a home run and have hit a total of three homers in their past 11 games. Los Angeles also hit into four double plays in Saturday’s loss.

“It’s what every team is going to go through in baseball throughout the course of a season,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I felt tonight, although it didn’t show for the first eight innings, I thought the intentions were better on balls in the hitting zone.”

Los Angeles has been held to two runs or fewer in six of its last 11 games.

After opening the season on a tear at the plate, Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages has eight hits in his last 38 at-bats. He struck out twice Saturday.

“Just trying to focus on what I can do, not focus so much on the whole,” Pages said through an interpreter. “Just focus on taking good at-bats, doing good turns, not really trying to get too ahead of myself. Baseball is really hard. So offensively, there’s gonna be times where we’re not clicking, and that’s one of those times right now.”

Left-hander Justin Wrobleski (4-0, 1.50 ERA) will take the mound for the Dodgers. He won his fourth straight start last Sunday, allowing four hits over six solid innings in a 6-0 home win over the Chicago Cubs.

Wrobleski, 25, has allowed two runs on 16 hits in 26 innings across his last four outings.

Pedro Pages is 4-for-6 with two homers against Wrobleski, who is 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in three career games (two starts) versus St. Louis.

The Cardinals will counter with right-hander Dustin May (3-2, 5.28), who spent the first five-plus seasons of his career from 2019-25 with the Dodgers.

May, 28, gave up two runs over six innings in a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Monday. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his last four starts, going 3-0 in those outings. May is facing his former team for the first time.

–Field Level Media

The Chicago Cubs will turn to left-hander Matthew Boyd in an attempt to sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon and bump their home winning streak to 11 games.

Winners of 14 of their last 17 games overall and 13-5 at home this season, the Cubs secured a series win with a 2-0 triumph on Saturday. Behind starter Shota Imanaga’s seven scoreless innings, Ben Brown became Chicago’s seventh reliever to record a save this season.

“You play the game in front of you and play with the guys you have and then you go from there,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said about a series of injuries that have put pitchers into new roles.

“That builds resiliency, if anything.”

Boyd (1-1, 7.00 ERA) will oppose Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly (1-2, 9.20) in a matchup of rotation stalwarts who have yet to find their footing in a season disrupted by injury.

Boyd, the Cubs’ Opening Day starter, struck out 10 in a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in his second start of the season on April 1. He reported slight arm discomfort, however, and the Cubs placed him on the injured list with a left biceps strain as a precaution.

He returned to the rotation on April 22 and since has made two starts, although he has not made it through five innings in either one. He notched a no-decision against both Philadelphia and San Diego in which he gave up seven runs on 13 hits in 8 2/3 innings.

Boyd was irked at himself for a failed ABS challenge in the first inning of his latest outing, the Cubs’ 9-7 loss at San Diego on Monday.

He called for a review on the fourth pitch of the first inning — a 2-1 fastball to leadoff hitter Ramon Laureano that was shown to be a ball. The Padres used two walks and three hits to score three runs that inning.

“It’s putting our hitters and our team in a hole when you do something like that in that situation, so early in the game,” Boyd said. “It was not a smart move on my part. I regretted it. I’ll do my best to not make that mistake again.”

The Cubs rallied to take a 5-3 lead into the last of the third inning but could not hold on.

Boyd is 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in three career starts against the Diamondbacks, the most recent a no-decision in which he gave up four hits over five scoreless innings in a 10-6 loss in Arizona on March 30, 2025. Ketel Marte is 2-for-5 against him.

Kelly opened the season on the injured list with intercostal nerve irritation, which caused mid-back tightness. He has not shown his typical control in three starts since returning in a 4-3 victory at Baltimore on April 14. He has surrendered 13 runs on 16 hits in his two most recent starts while walking eight, ballooning his WHIP to 2.25.

Kelly was asked if command of his four-pitch repertoire might be the last thing to come after the injury-forced layoff.

“I think every comeback is different,” he said after walking five in a 13-2 loss at Milwaukee on Tuesday. “I think everybody’s different. The answer for me right now is ‘yes.’ I have to stop putting myself in bad situations.”

Kelly is 3-1 with a 3.25 ERA in eight career starts against the Cubs, the most recent an 8-1 victory in Arizona on March 28, 2025. Michael Busch is 2-for-6 with a homer against him.

–Field Level Media