After following a familiar recipe in their season opener, the Philadelphia Phillies aim to continue the momentum in the middle game of their three-game home series with the Texas Rangers on Saturday.
It felt a lot like the 2025 regular season for Philadelphia, which rode Cy Young Award runner-up Cristopher Sanchez and MVP runner-up Kyle Schwarber to a 5-3 victory over the Rangers on Thursday. The teams were off Friday.
Sanchez struck out 10 over six scoreless innings in his 2026 debut, while Schwarber hit a two-run homer in the first inning.
“I really do believe that we’ve got a pretty complete team here,” Schwarber said. “And, obviously, there’s going to be a course of 162 (games) that we’re going to have to navigate. There will be ups and downs. You’re not going 162-0, but we all have the right mindsets here. We’re all looking forward to getting back here on Saturday and expecting to win a baseball game.”
Texas managed only three hits against Sanchez and did not draw a walk. The Rangers finished with eight total hits after a three-run ninth inning.
“Obviously, he’s an ace,” Rangers first baseman Jake Burger said of Sanchez. “He’s a bona fide superstar in the game.”
Burger hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning and Texas tacked on one more run, but it was too little, too late to secure a victory in Skip Schumaker’s debut as Rangers manager.
“If we fight like that over 162, we’re going to be OK,” Schumaker said. “So I really enjoyed seeing that part of it. Of course you want to win, but rolling over is not acceptable. We didn’t do that. I’m proud of the guys for attacking it like they did.”
Justin Crawford was in attack mode for Philadelphia when he singled on the first pitch he saw in his major league career and added another base hit.
“I was trying to make it feel as normal as possible,” said Crawford, the son of former MLB All-Star Carl Crawford. “Obviously, a little bit different because it is my first Major League Baseball game. But I was trying to make it normal.”
Crawford and the Phillies will have a tough task Saturday as they face Jacob deGrom, who made 30 starts last season for the first time since 2019 while going 12-8 with a 2.97 ERA. The 37-year-old right-hander plans to attack the Phillies, like he does every opponent, with an aggressive mindset.
“If it’s a big situation, I’m going to throw my best pitches,” deGrom said. “And if I get beat on those, then I can live with that.”
In 22 career starts against the Phillies, deGrom is 9-2 with a 2.55 ERA.
Aaron Nola counters for Philadelphia as the veteran righty looks to bounce back from the worst season of his career, when he was 5-10 with a 6.01 ERA in 17 starts. Nola is riding some confidence after a productive stint for Team Italy at the World Baseball Classic.
“Those games are obviously bigger than spring training games,” Nola said. “They get you more prepared to face really good lineups. The focus level was a little higher. So, yeah, I hope it does help. I’ll go into the regular season as prepared as possible.”
Nola has only made one career start against the Rangers — on Opening Day in 2023 — and gave up five runs in 3 2/3 innings. Philadelphia jumped out to a 5-0 lead against deGrom that day before Texas rallied for an 11-7 victory.
–Field Level Media
