MIAMI -- Marlins left-hander Jesús Luzardo considers each start a learning experience, particularly each time he takes the mound and struggles. He tries to find something positive to build off of, so that he’s not dwelling on the past.

Consider Tuesday night’s 5-1 loss loss to the Nationals at loanDepot park another lesson. Luzardo was chased in the fifth, while the Marlins’ bats couldn't solve Erick Fedde and they dropped their season-high-tying eighth straight.

Luzardo allowed five runs on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings in his fifth start since being dealt by the A’s to his hometown Marlins in the Starling Marte trade. He has been unable to complete five frames in three of those starts, posting a 9.67 ERA.

“Overall for me, there's going to be positives, there's going to be negatives,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Things he'll learn from on both sides of that. Jesús is a guy that cares a lot. He's not going to go through a game and then not be concerned about this, that or the other. We've just got to make sure that we just continue to progress that road and make some steps here and there. But if he keeps the right attitude, which he has, he's going to be really good.”

Here’s a look by the numbers.

1: The number of walks allowed by Luzardo -- his lowest figure in a Marlins uniform.
He gave up 16 free passes in 17 2/3 innings through his first four starts with Miami. Luzardo entered the series opener at 5.2 walks per nine innings this season, after posting a 2.5 BB/9 rate with Oakland from 2019-20.

16: The number of homers surrendered by Luzardo this season in 60 1/3 innings.
The Nationals took him deep twice on Tuesday. Tres Barrera broke a scoreless deadlock in the fourth with a two-strike, two-run homer. Ryan Zimmerman added a two-run shot of his own in the fifth. That marked Zimmerman’s 40th long ball in 209 career games against the Marlins -- his most vs. any ballclub. Both Mattingly and Luzardo thought he might have gotten too predictable with his pitch selection in Zimmerman's third at-bat, after striking him out twice before.

“Electric arm, man,” said Barrera, who caught Luzardo some during the offseason. “He's going to be a good pitcher in this league in the future. But we knew we had to get him on the plate, make him throw strikes, and I feel like we were patient and got in good counts and got good pitches to hit."

22.50: Luzardo’s ERA in the fourth inning as a member of the Marlins.
Ten of his 24 runs allowed have come in that frame. Entering Tuesday, Luzardo was giving up a .324/.417/.563 slash line his second time through the order. Mattingly said it’s no coincidence since this is a league-wide trend.

33: Luzardo’s whiff percentage on the changeup -- the third-best mark of his career (min. 15 swings).
He recorded five whiffs on 15 swings. That pitch will be crucial moving forward. The Marlins' organization is known for developing pitchers with devastating changeups. Luzardo said that with Tuesday being an off night for his slider, the changeup was an even more important pitch for him.

Joining a new organization and soaking up information can be overwhelming, especially in the middle of the season. Luzardo doesn’t have the benefit of applying it over the winter or during Spring Training. He is trying to do so during the regular season.

“I work on stuff every day, even when I'm playing catch,” Luzardo said. “A lot of it is mindset, mentality, preparation. I feel like I've always been very well prepared, but at times I feel like maybe I rush, maybe the game gets a little fast on me, there's a lot of different things that happen.

"I think that every day I go out there and I play catch or whether it's a bullpen, even watching our games and watching Sandy [Alcantara] work, the other starters and relievers go in there, I kind of work on stuff every day, all the time. I feel like I do try to implement it in my [starts], but then at times you just have to go and you have to compete, and you can't be thinking too much.”

96.3: The average speed on Luzardo’s four-seam fastball.
That is 0.4 mph faster than his season average, so the velocity is there. It is interesting to note that Statcast compares Luzardo to Trevor Rogers, Ranger Suárez, David Peterson, Ryan Weathers and Sean Manaea based on velocity and movement.