Jesus Luzardo returns to form as Miami Marlins shut out Padres. Takeaways from the win

The Miami Marlins have been waiting for this version of Jesus Luzardo to show up again. The 25-year-old lefty had struggled mightily in his past four starts and overall has been lackluster in the second half of the season.

On Tuesday, Luzardo returned to form, firing six shutout innings in the Marlins’ 3-0 win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Miami improves to 65-62, snaps a three-game losing streak and logs its eighth shutout win of the season. The Padres fall to 60-67.

Couple that with losses by the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, and Miami is back within a game of being in playoff position.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

How Jesus Luzardo shut down the Padres

Luzardo didn’t want to get too personal, but postgame Tuesday he mentioned a conversation he had with a friend before the game. The friend had recently stopped playing baseball to pursue other paths in life and gave Luzardo a message.

“You’re in the big leagues; enjoy it,” Luzardo recalled his friend saying. “If today was the last day you’re going to throw a baseball, how do you want to go out? Obviously you don’t want to go out there anxious and stressed. You want to go out there, give it all you got.”

“That’s the mentality I want to take moving forward,” Luzardo added.

He did just that Tuesday.

Luzardo held the Padres to just two hits and one walk while striking out seven in his six innings on the mound Tuesday.

Just three of 12 balls in plays by Padres batters were hard hit, defined as having an exit velocity of at least 95 mph.

Luzardo retired 12 consecutive batters between the two hits he allowed — a Jake Cronenworth single with one out in the second and a Ha-Seong Kim single with one out in the sixth. He ended his outing with a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play, with Fernando Tatis Jr. whiffing on an outside changeup and catcher Nick Fortes making a throw to second base that easily beat Kim.

“We needed this from him,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “He needed it as well.”

Especially with the way Luzardo’s past month has gone.

Since his last quality start — seven innings of one-run ball with 13 strikeouts against the Colorado Rockies on July 23 — Luzardo has allowed 20 earned runs over 17 innings (a 10.59 ERA) in his past four starts. He gave up at least four runs in each of those starts and went fewer than five innings in three of the four outings.

Andrew Nardi, Tanner Scott and David Robertson pitched the final three innings out of the bullpen, with Robertson logging his fourth save in six opportunities since being acquired by the Marlins.

Jorge Soler home run sparks pivotal third inning

First there was the swing. Then there was the admiration as the ball carried to center field. Then, finally, came the bat drop.

Jorge Soler crushed a middle-away four-seam fastball from Padres starting pitcher Blake Snell a projected 442 feet to center field for a solo home run to open scoring in the third inning.

Miami was just getting started. Luis Arraez and Josh Bell each followed with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. Then Jake Burger hit a single of his own which, combined with a throwing error from San Diego shortstop Xander Bogearts, allowed Arraez to score from second base, before Avisail Garcia capped scoring in the frame with an RBI groundout.

“He’s been killing it all year and mostly lately,” Soler said of Snell. “He’s a very great pitcher. We went there aggressively and attacked first.”

For Soler, it was his team-leading 33rd home run this season, tied for the fifth-most in MLB.

Burger and Bell, meanwhile, continue their strong starts to their Marlins tenures.

Burger has hits in 13 consecutive games and is batting .371 (26 for 70) in 19 games overall with Miami. Bell, who also walked twice on Tuesday in addition to the single, is hitting .306 (22 for 72).

Avisail Garcia injured during rally

The one downside from that third-inning rally: Garcia suffered a left hamstring strain during his run to first base on his RBI groundout. The outfielder pulled up as he got to the bag and walked back to the dugout with head athletic trainer Lee Meyer and manager Skip Schumaker by his side.

Bryan De La Cruz replaced Garcia in left field.

It’s the latest injury in Garcia’s trying two-year tenure with the Marlins. He played just 98 games last season while dealing with hamstring injuries. This year, he missed 78 games due to back tightness and finally returned to the active roster on July 30.