The Phillies attacked Jacob deGrom on Thursday afternoon, spoiling his Rangers debut by scoring five times to chase him down in the fourth inning.
Then they gave it all away.
The Phils lost their season opener at Texas, 11-7. Leading by five, they allowed nine runs in the fourth inning. Aaron Nola allowed five and left-handed reliever Gregory Soto allowed four in his Phillies debut.
The Phillies briefly got back into the game with a run in the fifth inning, but the Rangers responded with two more on Connor Brogdon and that was all she wrote.
Nola retired 9 of the first 10 batters he faced before things fell apart in the fourth inning. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out and the next two hits were loud: a two-run double by Jonah Heim and a three-run home run by Robbie Grossman.
This was Nola’s sixth consecutive opening day start, and by far his worst. He had a 3.38 ERA in the previous five. Thursday was the first time in his career that he has failed to hold a lead of at least five races.
Soto walked two and allowed two hits without recording an out. He threw just eight strikes on 19 pitches. He was a big part of the Phillies’ offseason, coming over from the Tigers in a trade that sent Matt Vierling and Nick Maton to Detroit, where Soto had spent most of the past two seasons as a closer.
Offensively, there was a lot to like about the Phillies. Trea Turner tripled for his first hit with the team, part of deGrom’s back-to-back triples with Brandon Marsh. Marsh also doubled.
Alec Bohm, who showed up to camp much stronger, followed up a powerful spring with a big day at the plate. He hit a two-run homer off deGrom in the second inning, doubled off deGrom in the fourth and hit a run in the fifth. He won’t be around the seven holes for long if he keeps hitting like this.
JT Realmuto and Nick Castellanos also had multi-hit games. deGrom’s six Phillies extra-base hits were the most he has allowed. But it was not enough.
The Phils have lost 10 straight games to the Rangers. After a day off on Friday, they look to break that streak and earn their first win of 2023 when Zack Wheeler takes on Nate Eovaldi.
