Seth Lugo continued his stretch-out upon returning to the starting rotation in a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.

Lugo threw 81 pitches over five innings and picked up the win while he notched eight strikeouts. After the game, Lugo had a precautionary x-ray on his hand which came back negative, according to Steve Gelbs of SNY.

To set the stage, Lugo used his fastball and looked to run it in early in counts. He was beat to the punch however when allowing his only run of the game on a Rhys Hoskins home run in the opening frame.

It should be noted as well, that pitch to Hoskins was Lugo’s hardest of the night (97 mph). He sat effectively at 92-93 mph for the remainder of the evening.

Lugo settled down for the night though and gave the Mets five solid innings. What continued to work was his curve, which had some good bite to it to set the tempo. Lugo used that pitch 27% of the time on Saturday, which marked his highest usage of that pitch this season.

What stood out the most perhaps was Steve Gelbs’ in-game report on Lugo in the third inning, which highlighted how cerebral Lugo is and how much he prepares for hitters’ tendencies and when they make in-game adjustments. Those are things that relievers aren’t thinking about nearly as much as starters.

In short, Lugo has not only the arsenal to be a starter but also the attitude and preparation required to be an effective starter. With Lugo basically fully stretched out now, that’s a role he should continue to fill.

When asked about going deep into games, Lugo said the following, as per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.

Lugo’s presence now fully in the rotation stabilizes a unit that had been riddled with uncertainty due in large part to injuries.