Inside The Rangers

Mitch Garver, Texas Rangers Blast Phillies Again

Mitch Garver hit two home runs and Marcus Semien hit another as the Texas Rangers beat the Philadelphia Phillies at Globe Life Field.

Matthew Postins

In this story:

Mitch Garver hit two three-run home runs and Marcus Semien hit a solo shot as the Texas Rangers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 16-3 on Saturday afternoon at Globe Life Field. 

For the second straight game, the Rangers (2-0) unloaded on Phillies pitching, although this time the Rangers didn't have to rally from a 5-0 deficit. 

Garver hit his first home run since July 5 while making his first start behind the plate since May 8 when he suffered a right flexor tendon injury. Both of Garver's shots hugged the left-field line and gave him a 2-for-4 afternoon with six RBI and three runs scored. 

Several Rangers had big days at the plate. Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe each had three hits, while Robbie Grossman had two hits. Grossman and Lowe also drove in two runs. 

That was more than enough for Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi (1-0), who went five innings, giving up six hits and three runs while striking out six and walking two. Phillies starter Zach Wheeler (0-1) took the loss. 

The Rangers are two games over .500 for the first time since they were 58-56 on Aug. 7, 2019. It's the fourth time the Rangers have started a season 2-0. 

Things got so bad for Philadelphia that they let second baseman Josh Harrison pitch in relief in the eighth inning, where the Rangers scored three more runs. 

Texas goes for the series sweep on Sunday against the defending National League champs behind Martín Pérez, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. on ESPN.

Semien drilled his first home run of 2023 leading off the first on the second pitch from Wheeler, depositing the ball into the Rangers bullpen in right field.

A Grossman single made it 2-0 Rangers, bringing home Lowe.

It wasn’t all Rangers offense early. Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm stole an extra-base hit from Semien, one of the best fielding plays of the game.

Grossman got his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly in the third.

The Phillies cut the lead to 4-3 by the end of the top of the fifth. Darick Hall, Nick Castellanos and Bryson Scott hit consecutive doubles in the fourth, which brought home two runs. Trea Turner's triple in the fifth set him up to score a run a batter later on Kyle Schwarber's groundout. 

After that, it was all Rangers. 

Garver unloaded for the first time in the fifth, giving the Rangers a 7-3 lead. 

Then, he did it again in the seventh. 

Plus, the Rangers did this. 

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Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers for Fan Nation/SI and also writes about the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He also covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com.

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