Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

Aaron Nola, Phillies cough up 5-0 lead in Opening Day loss to Rangers

Aaron Nola struggled in an Opening Day loss. (Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Rangers 11, Phillies 7

ARLINGTON — Lesson learned: When the Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers meet on Opening Day, it’s going to be a shootout.

Just a day shy of nine years after the Phillies defeated the Rangers 14-10 on Opening Day in 2014, the defending National League Champions jumped out to a 5-0 lead. That lead evaporated during a disastrous bottom of the fourth inning, propelling the Rangers to a season-opening win over the Phillies.

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Jacob deGrom retired the Phillies in order in the top of the first inning, his debut frame with the Rangers after signing a five-year/$185 million deal this past winter.

But in the second inning, the Phillies — even without Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins — began to look like an offensive juggernaut.

Nick Castellanos doubled into right field with one out in the top of the second inning, setting up Bohm to hit a 385-foot home run two batters later:

The Phillies would add two more runs off of deGrom in the bottom of the third inning, with Trea Turner following up a Brandon Marsh triple with a triple of his own, his first hit and RBI as a Phillie:

Turner would later score on a wild pitch by deGrom.

Bohm added his second extra-base hit of the game in the fourth inning, a one-out double into the right field corner off of deGrom, who wouldn’t survive the inning. Marsh would plate Bohm later in the frame with a double down the left field line.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, Aaron Nola self-destructed in the home half of the fourth inning. After holding the Rangers hitless in the first three innings, Nola gave up four hits and five earned runs before exiting with two outs in the fourth.

The biggest blow for the Rangers against Nola came on a three-run home run by Robbie Grossman:

Ironically, Nola gave up the home run to Grossman on his 68th pitch of the day. As Dave Uram of KYW News Radio reminded us, that’s the same amount of pitches that Nola was pulled after throwing by Gabe Kapler in a loss to the Atlanta Braves on Opening Day 2018.

Before the inning was out, both Gregory Soto and Connor Brogdon would also struggle in their attempts to stop the bleeding. In all, the Rangers pushed nine runs across in the bottom of the fourth inning, with the frame only coming to an end when Adolis García was thrown out by Castellanos trying to stretch a two-run single into a double:

Bohm would plate Castellanos on an RBI single in the top of fifth, but former Phillie Brad Miller countered with a laser of a two-run shot off of Brogdon in the bottom of the inning:

Though J.T. Realmuto would lead off the seventh inning with a triple and later score on a Darick Hall groundout, the Phillies weren’t able to mount a late-inning comeback after the Rangers seized momentum.

Bubba Thomson robbed a would-be home run off the bat of Jake Cave in the top of the eighth inning, one of many deflating moments in a season-opening loss for the Phillies:

The Phillies will be off Friday, before two former All-Stars — Zack Wheeler and Nathan Eovaldi — square off Saturday afternoon.

Shibe Vintage Sports Notes

In three prior Opening Day starts, deGrom hadn’t allowed an earned run over 17 innings. Thursday, he allowed five runs over 3 2/3 innings pitched.

According to Paul Boye of Phillies Therapy, Thursday was the first time that deGrom ever allowed two triples and a home run in the same start.
Nola now has a 4.64 ERA in six career Opening Day starts.
Miller has homered on Opening Day in consecutive years for the Rangers, having led off with a home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022. He’s the sixth player in Rangers history to do so.
38,387 was the attendance in Arlington, which was announced as a sellout.

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