Ninth-inning rally not enough as the Phillies fall in extra innings to the Rangers
Aaron Nola struggled in his start, and the Phillies entered the ninth inning with one hit, down 3-0. Despite their late rally, the Phillies were handed a 5-4 loss on a chilly Saturday in Philadelphia.
When Aaron Nola threw the first pitch of Saturday’s game against the Texas Rangers, the temperature at Citizens Bank Park was a chilly 45 degrees.
Fans in the stands were bundled up in blankets, and several Phillies wore red balaclavas underneath their baseball caps for the coldest first pitch in Philadelphia since 2019.
For the first eight innings, the Phillies’ bats reflected the weather.
A furious ninth-inning rally spurred some late excitement and forced extras, but the Phillies ultimately fell, 5-4, to the Rangers in the 10th.
“They kept after it,” said manager Rob Thomson. “Two big hits with two strikes. Never gave up.”
The winning run was scored on Phillies closer Jhoan Duran in the 10th inning. A single from Wyatt Langford, a bloop just 67.8 mph off the bat, advanced ghost-running Brandon Nimmo, who then came home on a wild pitch. Andrew McCutchen then singled to drive in an insurance run.
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With two runners on in the bottom of the 10th and the opportunity to answer back, Kyle Schwarber challenged the strike call on a cutter from Tyler Alexander that barely caught the bottom outside corner of the zone. The call was confirmed, and when Alexander threw a changeup below the zone for a called third strike to Schwarber, the Phillies had no challenges remaining to attempt to overturn it.
“It’s a game of inches. It’s less than inches,” Brandon Marsh said. “I’m still getting used to it. ... It’s kind of nuts seeing just how close those balls are to the zone, missing or barely catching it. I feel like we’re all still trying to get a good gauge for it, and as the season goes on, we’ll figure it out.”
Thomson said he had no issue with Schwarber using the Phillies’ final challenge in that situation.
“Especially with those guys late in the game like that, it could change the at-bat,” Thomson said.
With the Phillies down to their final out in the 10th, Bryce Harper cut into the Texas lead with a broken-bat single that scored the Phillies’ automatic runner, but Alec Bohm popped out to shortstop to end the game.
Texas lefty Jacob Latz stepped in for scheduled starter Jacob DeGrom, who was scratched a few hours before game time with a stiff neck. He held the Phillies without a hit for the first four innings. J.T. Realmuto finally delivered a single off reliever Cole Winn in the fifth, but that was the Phillies’ only hit until the ninth.
“They pitched really well,” Thomson said. “Latz threw well. He attacked, threw strikes. Their entire pitching staff attacked; a lot of first-pitch strikes. They did a nice job keeping us off-balance, but I liked the way we fought at the end.”
The Phillies found themselves down early after Corey Seager ambushed Nola in the first inning with a solo home run on the first pitch he saw. The Rangers tacked on to their lead in the third when Nola hung a curveball to first baseman Jake Burger, who hit a two-run shot to the left field foul pole.
The damage could have been even worse. Nola wriggled out of a jam in the second inning after walking the first two batters. He induced a force out at third followed by a lineout, and then struck out Danny Jansen looking to leave both runners.
“Felt pretty good, body and arm felt good,” Nola said. “I think the command in the second inning got out of whack there, but felt like it came back pretty well. I threw a lot of pitches. They worked the counts pretty good. Obviously, those two pitches that those guys hit for homers were tough.”
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In the third inning, Justin Crawford made a jumping catch at the center field wall to rob Langford of extra bases.
Nola allowed five hits, two walks, and struck out seven over five innings. The Phillies used three lefty relievers, Tanner Banks, José Alvarado, and Tim Mayza.
The entire ninth-inning rally came with two outs. Bohm started things off with a line drive single for the Phillies’ second hit of the game. Edmundo Sosa, pinch-hitting for Stott, then won an eight-pitch battle by drawing a walk to bring up García.
García popped up the first pitch he saw, but was given another life when Burger dropped the ball in foul territory. He responded by punching a double to left field.
“It’s a crazy, crazy game,” Marsh said. “The wind was howling today, so I know that wasn’t an easy play for him. So thankfully, it fell, and got Garcia’s first knock and kept the boys rolling.”
Marsh fell behind in the count 1-2, but then connected with a splitter for a game-tying, two-RBI single to force extras.