The Philadelphia Phillies appear to be back on track after a slow offense start at Citizen’s Bank Park to begin the season. 

The Phillies have clinched a series victory over the Colorado Rockies with victories on both Friday and Saturday night. The series opener was all about the offensive exploitation, but Philadelphia won in a different way in the following game, showing the roster’s versatility all around.

Here are two standouts from the Phillies' victory over the Rockies, 2-1

Jesús Luzardo’s season debut didn’t go the way he would’ve wanted, but he rebounded in a big way on Saturday against the Rockies.

Philly started through 6.2 innings, gave up five hits, allowed one earned run, issued zero walks, and struck out 11 batters. That’s the most punchouts Luzardo has had in a game since March 29 of last season.

Luzardo said after the game that he felt good on the mound and was happy with how he limited hard contact, especially in a tough pitcher’s ballpark such as Coors Field. He also credited the game plan that Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto put together.

It wasn’t just the starting job that Luzardo put together that stood out, though. Philadelphia’s bullpen did a tremendous job closing out the rest of the game to limit the Rockies to just one run. 

Jose Alvarado, Brad Keller, and Jhoan Duran combined to throw 2.1 innings of scoreless work, only allowed two base runners, and struck out a pair of batters.

A start as strong as the one Luzardo put together, combined with a bullpen performance like this is hard for any team in MLB to beat.

The Phillies focused more on run prevention rather than run creation in Saturday’s win. The team came up with multiple impressive plays. 

Trea Turner stole the show with several highlight plays at shortstop, including an incredible sliding grab to steal a hit from Tyler Freeman in the seventh inning.

Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott teamed up for a nice play at second base to get the lead runner out in the second inning. Colorado tried challenging the play, but the call stood on the field.

Bryce Harper even got in on the action, fielding a ball that hit off first base in the ninth inning to help the Phillies secure the victory.

Overall, this was a solid defensive game from the Phillies and greatly contributed to the win. 

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