Luzardo, who fired three scoreless innings during which he allowed a hit and a walk while recording two strikeouts in a loss to the Angels on Saturday, could make his next appearance as a starter, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports. "We'll see," manager Bob Melvin said. "I think nowadays, if you can throw 60 to 65 pitches, you might be in a position to start. We're right on the border there, so we'll see. Maybe we get him one more outing and we're in a good position to start him, or maybe not."
After J.B. Wendelken came on to get the last out of the fifth inning Saturday, Melvin made good on his pledge to have Luzardo pitch as early as the second game of the season by giving the young left-hander a solid workload. Luzardo recorded his nine outs on an efficient 44 pitches, and the southpaw hit the ground running with a strikeout of Justin Upton that featured three straight fastballs of 97 mph or higher. Melvin was unsurprisingly effusive in his praise of Luzardo following the outing, noting the young hurler "came through with flying colors" after a significantly delayed arrival to summer camp relegated him to a relief role to start the campaign.