Inside The Rangers

Watch: Texas Rangers Complete Epic Comeback, Defeat Phillies on Opening Day

The Texas Rangers rallied from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Philadelphia Phillies on Opening Day.

Kade Kistner

In this story:

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Texas Rangers opened 2023 with the kind of result they hope becomes commonplace. Rallying from a huge early hole, the Rangers christened the season Thursday with an 11-7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Globe Life Field.

Texas (1-0) and the Phillies (0-1) are off Friday before resuming the three-game series Saturday.

The Phillies jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead after four innings. Texas ace Jacob deGrom wasn't sharp and pitched just 3 2/3 innings and gave up five earned runs. An Alec Bohm home run in the second inning and back-to-back triples from Brandon Marsh and Trea Turner helped propel the Phillies to the early lead. 

Heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, the ballpark was silent. The leader of the Rangers staff had a rough first outing and the bats just couldn't get going the first three innings. 

Then the bottom of the fourth happened ...

Corey Seager got the party started off Aaron Nola with a single and the floodgates opened.

Texas batted around the order and scored nine runs. Every single member of the lineup crossed home plate except for Brad Miller. But he made up for it the next inning.

The Rangers notched seven hits and nine runs in the fourth capped off by a Robbie Grossman three-run blast. 

By the end of the inning it was 9-5 and Rangers fans were on their feet. The Opening Day atmosphere was back and it was electric. 

Miller, who played for the Phillies last season, made up for not crossing the plate just one inning prior with a two-run bomb. 

Hittin' season was in full force and the Rangers were up 11-6.

Philadelphia was able to get another run back in the seventh with the help of a J.T. Realmuto leadoff triple off of Jonathan Hernández. Realmuto was able to score when first baseman Darick Hall slowly dribbled one to second base giving Realmuto time to score.

Following the seventh inning, the rest of the game was relatively uneventful aside from Bubba Thompson robbing a home run from Jake Cave. That defensive play also robbed Philadelphia of any momentum it hoped to gain heading into the ninth inning. 

It was a wild, crazy game. No one expected 18 runs to be scored. Or deGrom and Nola combining to allow 10 earned runs. Or a nine-run inning. Or a five-run comeback. Or a robbed home run. 

But here we are. And baseball is back!

Happy Opening Day.

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Kade Kistner
KADE KISTNER

Kade Kistner is the publisher and beat writer for Sports Illustrated's Inside the Phillies, Cubs and Astros. He is also an editor for Inside the Rangers. An alumnus of Tulane University, Kade graduated in 2017 with a degree in Latin American Studies and a minor in Spanish. Upon graduation, Kade commissioned into the United States Navy and attended Naval Flight School in Pensacola, Fl. He served as a Naval Aviator and was stationed in Jacksonville, Fl. During his time in school and the Navy, Kade began covering the MLB and NFL with USA Today, SB Nation, and Sports Illustrated. Kade covered the New Orleans Saints, Texas Rangers, and numerous other teams within the Sports Illustrated network before launching Inside the Phillies, Inside the Astros, and Inside the Cubs. You can follow him on Twitter at @KadeKistner, or if you have any questions or comments he can be reached via email at kwkistner@gmail.com.

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