Luzardo struck out six of the 10 batters he faced in a 2.2-inning, 51-pitch Cactus League outing against the Rangers on Tuesday, Jane Lee of MLB.com reports. "You look for the nerves or whatever, first big-league camp, and we haven't seen a sign of it," manager Bob Melvin said. "Comes in the dugout between innings, very cognizant of what's going on, has conversations with the catchers, the pitching coaches."
Luzardo is technically in the mix for one open rotation spot, but chances are he will stay down for a least a couple weeks for service-time reasons. The southpaw was making his first start after opening the spring with a pair of relief appearances, and Tuesday's outing extended his spring scoreless streak to 5.2 innings. Luzardo has given up only two hits and already fanned 10 hitters, with his elite changeup proving especially effective when interspersed with an impressive fastball that the 21-year-old is still actively working on locating more consistently. "I think when you have three pitches like that and you don't feel great about one, you have two you can go to, and there's a nice little gap between the two and they both look alike," Melvin said. "His fastball and his changeup look exactly alike."