CINCINNATI — Jesús Luzardo knew something was up when Philadelphia Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly called him into the visiting manager’s office at Great American Ball Park, but wasn’t sure what it was. Then Mattingly, alongside pitching coach Caleb Cotham and assistant Mark Lowy, told Luzardo he would be joining the National League All-Star team as a roster replacement for the Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia.“It’s obviously an honor — first (All-Star nod) of my career,” Luzardo said Tuesday. “It’s been a good year as a team, too, fighting back from that start. So it’s a good note, but something to continue to build on.”Luzardo, whom the Phillies gave a five-year $135 million contract extension in March, was named an NL pitching replacement along with Braxton Ashcraft and Riley O’Brien. The three pitchers will take the spots of Jacob Misiorowski, Paul Skenes and Max Meyer. Luzardo is the Phillies’ sixth All-Star player.The Phillies lefty owns a 3.75 ERA in 103 1/3 innings this season, a figure he has been fighting to lower since an up-and-down start. His ERA sat at 7.94 after four outings (20 earned runs in 22 2/3 IP) and did not fall below 5.00 until May 19, 10 starts into the season. But since the beginning of May, Luzardo has been one of the best lefties in the sport. His ERA since then (2.87) ranks fifth among qualified left-handed starters. His strikeouts since then (84) are second only to teammate Cristopher Sánchez, whom he will join on the NL pitching staff.Luzardo’s addition to the staff underscores the Phillies’ rotation’s place among the best in the sport. Since May 1, Phillies starting pitchers have produced a 3.73 ERA — third-best in the NL — and pitched 328 innings — second-best in the league.Zack Wheeler, who has a 2.36 ERA over 80 innings this season, has been a significant part of that. But Wheeler, who will pitch the day before the All-Star break, was not named to the original roster and is unlikely to be considered as a replacement because of his Sunday start. All three pitchers replaced were in line to start on Sunday.Luzardo’s dreams of the All-Star Game began long before he was announced as a replacement. He remembered playing baseball in the street as a child, pretending he was playing in situations like the All-Star Game or Game 7 of the World Series. He said he is looking forward to everything about All-Star week.“You grow up watching the All-Star Game and the festivities around it,” he said. “Hopefully, we have some guys in the Home Run Derby. If we do, that’ll be really fun to watch. And just being in a clubhouse with all the great players around the league and in front of the home crowd is also going to be very cool.”