Mar 28, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies infielder Trea Turner (7) reacts after striking out against the Texas Rangers in the fifth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies found out Saturday morning that they wouldn't be facing Jacob deGrom.
After eight innings, you would have thought they had faced the vintage version of the Texas ace.
The Phillies offense looked listless. They had just one hit -- and it was an infield single by J.T. Realmuto.
Texas rolled out a chorus of pitchers who, unless you are a seam head, wouldn't know if Dan Baker was lying to you or not about their names as they entered.
Jacob Latz. Cole Winn. Jalen Beeks. Jakob Junis. The Phillies didn't have a hard hit ball against any of them.
"They pitched really well," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "Their entire pitching staff attacked and threw a lot of first pitch strikes. They did a nice job keeping us off balance."
But then, things got weird.
The Phillies had an improbable ninth inning rally, and then there was high drama in the tenth. Ultimately, the Phillies lost, 5-4 in 10 innings, after Jhoan Duran allowed two runs, one on a wild pitch and one on a single by Andrew McCutchen, but they got the tying run within 90 feet, only to have Alec Bohm pop out to end the game.
The Phillies top three hitters went 1 for 15 and the one hit was by Harper in the tenth inning to get the Phillies within a run.
He wouldn't have had an opportunity to get that hit had Jake Burger not dropped his second pop up of the game on a play that would have ended the game and had the Phillies shut out.
CHAOS in Philadelphia as Jake Burger drops what would've been the final out. Then Adolis Garcia and Brandon Marsh tie the game! pic.twitter.com/3xr8ZIqOFQ
But Burger did, giving Adolis Garcia new life. He doubled home one run and Brandon Marsh singled home two more to tie it.
"You know what? It's a crazy, crazy game," said Marsh. "The wind was howling today and I know that wasn't an easy play for him."
Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber had games to forget, offensively.
Turner struck out on three pitches with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning. He swung at each pitch, and two of them were out of the zone.
In the tenth, with the Phillies down two, Turner came to the plate with two men on and nobody out and popped out to shortstop.
Meanwhile, Schwarber was 0 for 5 and struck out four times. In his last at bat, also in the tenth, he challenged the second strike call by home plate umpire D,.J. Reyburn. But Schwarber's challenge failed, as the ball nipped the outside corner.
The Phillies were then out of challenges, as Justin Crawford had failed on a challenge earlier in the game.
Wouldn't you know that Schwarber looked at the next pitch, and Reyburn rung him up -- and the pitch was a ball.
Had Schwarber not challenged the first and challenged the second, the who knows how things would have played out.
The ABS challenges are going to have a major impact on the game.
In the top of the tenth, Realmuto challenged two ball calls by Reyburn and correctly had them overturned to become strikes for Duran. It wasn't enough to stop the Rangers from getting to Duran, but it's an indicator at just how valuable having a catcher who can correctly challenge close calls to the benefit of his pitcher.
"He's caught a lot of pitches in his career and he knows the zone," Thomson said of Realmuto. "He did a great job in Spring Training and I think the pitchers, for the most part, try to keep their emotions in check and let him and (Rafael) Marchan do the challenges."
Aaron Nola started the game for the Phillies and had a bit of an uneven start. He only gave up three runs in five innings and struck out seven, so it wasn't a disaster. But he gave up two homers -- something that has plagued him in recent seasons -- and he had a long second inning, which started off with consecutive walks, running up his pitch count and not allowing him to go more than five innings.
He was also bailed out by an outstanding catch by Crawford against the centerfield wall, or it could have been worse.
Justin Crawford takes away extra bases with a leaping catch at the wall! pic.twitter.com/t6P8BcoZwO
"I needed to go a little bit longer, a little bit deeper," Nola said. "But the positive is my arm felt good and my body felt good."
Nola said the two pitches that were turned into homers were a case of missing spots. The fastball to Cory Seager was up, but it was also supposed to be outside and it caught the plate.
The curveball to Burger was like a chandelier, because it just hung there in the middle of the zone and it was supposed to be down, either on the black, or out of the zone altogether.
Those two homers accounted for the three runs Nola allowed, and the rest of the time he was fine.
The bullpen did a solid job in relief of him, specifically lefties Tanner Banks, Jose Alvarado and Tim Mayza, but then Duran came in in extras with a ghost runner, gave up a bloop single, a wild pitch, and a line drive single to be tagged with two runs - and the loss.
It was a bit of a hangover game after such a delightful opener. The weather dropped 30-plus degrees. The offense was absent for 95% of it. It seemed like it was going to be a complete and utter snoozer until it wasn't at the last minute.
But despite the resilience of the Phillies -- something that is a staple -- a loss is a loss. And they will look to put it behind them Sunday afternoon behind Jesus Luzardo.
