Surrendering a five-run lead en route to an Opening Day loss isn't how anyone planned to open the season. The Phillies aim to bounce back on Saturday afternoon as Zack Wheeler takes the bump against the Rangers in Arlington in the second game of a season-opening three-game set.
The Rangers counter with righty Nathan Eovaldi.
Aaron Nola failed to get out of the fourth inning in Thursday's opener as the Rangers scored nine runs in the fourth to cruise to a victory.
J.T. Realmuto (2B, 3B), Alec Bohm (2B, HR) and Brandon Marsh (2B, 3B) led the Phils offensively.
Wheels Up: In 69 regular season starts with the Phils, Wheeler is 30-19 with a 2.82 ERA (137 ER, 437.1 IP) with 463 strikeouts to 96 walks (4.82 SO/BB ratio).
Extras: In Thursday’s opener, the Phillies pounded out eight extra-base hits, a number they reached twice last season as a team (9 XBH on 7/16/22 at MIA & 8 XBH on 6/8/22 at MIL) … The Phillies also tallied three triples on Thursday (Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Brandon Marsh), their most in a game since 4/8/17 vs WSH (Cesar Hernandez, Howie Kendrick, Michael Saunders).
Phillies Lineup: Turner 6 Schwarber 7 Realmuto 2 Hall 3 Castellanos DH Stott 4 Bohm 5 Cave 9 Marsh 8, Wheeler RHP.
Rangers Lineup: Semien 4, Seager 6, Lowe 3, Garcia 8, Jung 5, Grossman 9, Garver 2, Miller DH, Smith 7, Eovaldi RHP.
The Odds: The Phillies are -128 favorites with over/under set at 7.5.
Ranger Notes: The 33-year-old Eovaldi is set to make his Texas debut ... He owns a lifetime 4-4 record and 3.36 ERA (23 ER/61.2 IP) in 11 career games/starts vs. the Phillies, but is undefeated (4-0) in his last seven starts vs. Philadelphia dating back to 2013, posting a 2.16 ERA (10 ER/41.2 IP) and 28 strikeouts/10 walks in those outings.
Injury Update: The Phillies announced that Rhys Hoskins had successful surgery on his torn ACL on Thursday morning and quoted a timetable of seven-to-nine months for recovery.
