Luzardo's struggles, offense's newcomers key in Wild Card race

MIAMI -- The National League Wild Card race remains wild.

After winning Monday’s series opener against Houston, Miami dropped consecutive games to the defending World Series champion, including a 12-5 loss Wednesday night at loanDepot park. With victories by the Reds (63-59) and Cubs (62-58), the Marlins (63-59) are in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot.

Here are two things Miami needs to do as it begins a six-game road trip on Friday against the NL West-leading Dodgers.

Get Luzardo on track
Left-hander Jesús Luzardo started and ended the 3-3 homestand with a rough outing that led to a Marlins defeat. In the series finale, Luzardo allowed six runs (five earned) in 3 2/3 innings, with three strikeouts and three walks.

When Luzardo missed his location -- akin to what happened to ace Sandy Alcantara during the first half -- the meat of the Astros' order made him pay. Alex Bregman (off a fastball), Kyle Tucker (slider) and Chas McCormick (changeup) took Luzardo deep in the first inning, as Houston jumped out to a five-run lead. It marked the third time Luzardo has surrendered three homers in a start in his career, and two have come in his past three times on the mound.

“At the end of the day, I feel like it's frustrating, but you can't really go back and change it, so you can only control what's in front of you,” Luzardo said. “At that point, you just have to let it go and keep going on.”

Since the All-Star break, Luzardo’s ERA has gone from 3.29 to 4.13 in six starts. He has just one quality start, and he has been unable to complete five innings in four of them.

The biggest difference from the first to second half is the effectiveness of Luzardo's slider:

123 plate appearances ending in sliders pre-All-Star break
.218 average, .244 OBP, .403 SLG, 68 strikeouts (55.3% strikeout rate), 3 HR, 3 BB (2.4% BB rate)

32 plate appearances ending in sliders post-All-Star break
.414 average, .469 OBP, .621 SLG, 13 strikeouts (40.6% K rate), 1 HR, 3 BB (9.4% BB rate)

Luzardo and manager Skip Schumaker don’t believe the struggles come down to him surpassing his career high in innings, starts and pitches. Luzardo thinks it’s a combination of losing a feel for his stuff, mechanical issues and perhaps tipping pitches.

“It's not like he hasn't done it before,” Schumaker said. “He's faced some really good teams with [a] very similar type of lineup that he's been really good at. We’ve got to get Zeus right, because the only way we're going to get to where we want to get to is if Zeus is right, and he knows it. I don't think he's tired. I don't think it's anything like that because of the way he works in between starts, and his bullpens are really good.”

Keep that offense rolling
Miami averaged five runs a game on the homestand -- much higher than its season average of 4.05, which helped overcome some of the pitching deficiencies.

That was nearly the case again Wednesday, when the Marlins tagged Justin Verlander for five runs (four earned) over five innings. After being down 5-0 following the top of the first, Miami had a chance to tie it in the fourth, but Luis Arraez lined out to first (with a 100.7 mph exit velocity) with men on first and second in a 6-4 ballgame. Trailing 6-5 in the fifth, Nick Fortes popped out to third with another two runners on.

“There's been countless times pitchers have picked us up, so it's just part of the game, and it's just the flow of the game,” Jake Burger said. “You see a big spot in the first inning and you start chipping away from that. It's a long game. You have a lot of at-bats to put together, and that's kind of the mindset you have to have at all times.”

Newcomers Burger and Josh Bell continue to slug at the plate, combining to go 5-for-9 with three runs and two RBIs. They have made the new-look lineup deeper and better. During the homestand, the Marlins raked against MLB’s top bullpen (the Yankees) on Sunday and Astros starters Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and Verlander.

“The fact that we got to a couple of these guys shows you what we're capable of,” Schumaker said. “There's just no real holes. I think you can do something with every hitter, even at the bottom of the order. They can get a bunt down, get him over, get him in, that type of thing. They're tough outs. But the middle of the order with Burger and Bell and Arraez and [Jorge] Soler and some guys off the bench, it's really a lot deeper than it's been. Exciting now, and it's exciting hopefully for the future as well.”