Thoughts on a 5-3 Rangers loss
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - MARCH 26: Nathan Eovaldi #17 of the Texas Rangers pitches in the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park on March 26, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) | Getty Images Phillies 5, Rangers 3 That was not the way we were hoping to start the season. Nathan Eovaldi allowed all five Phillies runs, getting pulled at 80 pitches with two outs in the fifth.
He pitched better than the 9. 64 ERA would suggest, however. Eovaldi struck out seven and didn’t issue any walks, generating 14 swings and misses, 8 of which came on his splitter.
The Rangers got into a hole right away, with Trea Turner singling to start the bottom of the first, and then Kyle Schwarber sending a 1-2 curveball that Eovaldi left up the opposite way for a home run. It wasn’t a good location by Eovaldi, but it also wasn’t exactly crushed by Schwarber. Off the bat it seemed like it would be a deep fly out to left, but the ball kept carrying, and carrying…until it ended up in the stands.
2-0 Philadelphia. Eovaldi righted the ship after that and kept the Phillies off the scoreboard (with some help from Sam Haggerty, who made a great diving catch on a Trea Turner flare to end the second) until the fifth inning. The fifth started with Justin Crawford, son of Carl (god, I’m old), and Trea Turner singling.
Eovaldi struck out Schwarber and Harper, bringing up Alec Bohm (who, incidentally, is suing his parents for supposedly embezzling his money ). Eovaldi fell behind Bohm, 2-0, and then left a cutter up. In what was almost a mirror image of Schwarber in the first, Bohm lofted the ball the other way for what off the bat seemed like it would be a fly out.
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