Simply offensive: Rangers 8, Phillies 3

· Yahoo Sports

Mar 29, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber (12) reacts after striking out against the Texas Rangers during the fourth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Baseball seems to have the longest offseason around. If you have a team that you follow that isn’t in the playoffs (or gets bounced from the playoffs quickly), it feels like forever until Opening Day. That wait brings hope, promise and hype that this will be the season a championship parade is the endgame. Opening Day brings pomp and circumstance, games are finally played and….

…you get this performance from the Phillies.

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Outside of a masterful six innings by Cristopher Sanchez, the Phillies looked rather lackluster against the Rangers. Sure, their comeback Saturday in the ninth inning was somewhat memorable, but what the offensive decided to do (better yet, not do) left a sour taste in the mouths of many.

Sunday’s game got out of hand rather quickly. The game was scoreless to begin, Jesus Luzardo on the mound for the Phillies, Mackenzie Gore opposing him for the Rangers. Both traded scoreless innings to start, but in the third, Texas got going. A one out single by Sam Haggerty was brought around on a home run by Brandon Nimmo to give the Rangers the lead.

They got three more in the fourth when Corey Seager and Jake Burger, who reached on walk and a single respectively, scored thanks to a missile from Andrew McCutchen.

They would add another run in the top of the sixth on a Kyle Higashioka RBI single. So as the Rangers are scoring runs and then adding more to that total, the Phillies staggered to and back from the plate like an 11U baseball team. Their approaches were bad, their swings were worse and that meant they were no-hit again through multiple opening innings. They got on the board when in the bottom of the sixth, they loaded the bases thanks to an excuse me single by Justin Crawford, a walk to Trea Turner and a broken bat single by Kyle Schwarber, all with no outs.

Bryce Harper then looked feeble once again, striking out to get the first out. Alec Bohm was hit by a pitch to get a run, then another followed on an sacrifice fly by Adolis Garcia. Bryson Stott pinch hit next, only to ground out, but at least there was a pulse.

Enter Zach Pop. Walk, double, hit by pitch and one run was given back. Another sacrifice fly given up two batters later made the sure that the runs the Phillies got were neutralized quickly.

In the eighth, Stott got an RBI single to make the score 8-3, but that was about it.

There was much consternation about the team running it back, even though there are a lot of new faces. Part of that consternation was the team not fixing the issues that got them bounced from the last two playoff appearances, where the offense simply didn’t show up when it mattered. These two games this weekend did not help quiet those voices.

Even if it is just three games (and friends, they will ultimately be fine), this was not the performance one was hoping after weeks of missing baseball.

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