Cristopher Sanchez and Kyle Schwarber Pick Up Where They Left Off as Phillies Hang on to Beat Rangers on Opening Day

Baseball is back in Philadelphia and here to stay for the next seven months.

Kicking off the season with Opening Day is a special part of the MLB season, and the Philadelphia Phillies do it just as well as anyone in baseball. From the team entering from center field, Kane Kalas singing the national anthem next to his father’s statue, and just the overall vibes from the Philadelphia faithful, it’s the perfect atmosphere for baseball.

Coming into 2026, the Phillies have huge expectations, still trying to win their first World Series since 2008, and needed to kick off the year with a nice and easy victory. While it got a little shaky at the end, the Phillies hung on to pick up win No. 1 on the season, a 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers

Making his first Opening Day was last year’s NL Cy Young runner-up Cristopher Sanchez. Sanchez was phenomenal in 2025, posting a career-high in wins, strikeouts, and innings pitched while posting his lowest ERA at 2.50. In his first career Opening Day start, he looked like he hadn’t lost a step, tossing six scoreless innings of work, striking out 10 batters.

Kyle Schwarber also didn’t skip a beat from last season, smacking his first Schwarbomb of the 2026 season. Alec Bohm also contributed a dinger of his own, while Justin Crawford added two singles in his MLB debut.

In his first inning of work, Sanchez got rolling right away, sending the first two batters down on just nine pitches. However, back-to-back singles from Corey Seager and Jake Burger put two runners on for former Phillie Andrew McCutchen. Unfortunately for McCutchen, he fell victim to Sanchez’s nasty changeup, going down on strikes to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the first, it didn’t take long for the Phillies’ offense to get going. Trea Turner kicked off his 2026 campaign legging out an infield single. Following that up, picking up right where he left off in 2025, Schwarber smashed a two-run blast to left field that gave the Phillies the early lead. For Schwarber, it’s his third career Phillies opening day home run.

Right where he left off#Phillies pic.twitter.com/cCIjDGkdCi

— Philly Sports Reports (@PhlySprtsReprts) March 26, 2026

Snachez picked up a pair of strikeouts in the top of the second and in the bottom half of the innings, top prospect and now starting center fielder for the Phillies, Crawford, notched his first career base hit.

Welcome to the show No. 2!#Phillies pic.twitter.com/XoM771pvlH

— Philly Sports Reports (@PhlySprtsReprts) March 26, 2026

Both teams went down in order in the third, and despite both teams notching two-out doubles in the fourth, the Phillies remained ahead 2-0 heading into the fifth. Sanchez continued rolling through the top of the inning and finally got some run support in the bottom of the fifth.

Crawford and Turner led off the fifth with back-to-back singles, putting two runners on for Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Bohm. Facing the right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, Schwarber and Harper had the clear advantage against him being left-handed, and of course, both batters went down on strikes.

Thankfully, for Schwarber and Harper, they were picked up by their non-controversial cleanup hitter, Bohm, who elevated a ball down the right field line and snuck it over the wall for a three-run shot to break open the game.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE BOHM! pic.twitter.com/Yx7NF9WjIl

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 26, 2026

Back out for the sixth inning and already sitting at seven strikeouts, Sanchez continued his dominating afternoon of work. Facing the top of the Rangers lineup for the third time, Sanchez struck Brandon Nimmo out on three pitches, Wyatt Langford on four, and finished off Seager on five pitches, striking out the side and exiting the field fired up.

Make it 10 Ks for Cris! ? pic.twitter.com/Q9mNNbJSqv

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 26, 2026

The sixth inning was the final inning of work for Sanchez, ending his first start of the season with 10 strikeouts and allowing just three hits over six innings of work. For Sanchez, it was his eighth career multi-strikeout performance and the first Phillies pitcher with 10 or more strikeouts on Opening Day since Curt Schilling in 1997.

Jonathan Bowlan, the relief pitcher who was the return in the Matt Strahm trade this past winter, came on in relief of Sanchez in the seventh. Bowlan allowed a leadoff single to Jake Burger, but worked around the leadoff hit to keep the five-run lead.

The offense remained stagnant for the Phillies in the seventh, and for the Rangers in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, the Phillies got some movement on the basepaths thanks to a walk from Bohm, a two-out double from Brandon Marsh — his second double of the game, becoming the first Phillies left-handed hitter since Chase Utley in 2006 to have multiple doubles on Opening Day — and a hit-by-pitch to J.T Realmuto, loading the bases for Crawford. Already with two hits on the afternoon, Crawford unfortunately couldn’t pick up a third, popping out to end the eighth.

With just three outs to go to secure an Opening Day victory, Kyle Backhus, a project side-arm pitcher acquired this winter from Arizona, was called on to finish the game. However, Backhus’ Phillies debut didn’t go quite the way he hoped it would as he allowed a leadoff single to Seager, and Burger smoked a ball deep into right centerfield for a two-run home run, putting the Rangers on the board.

Now up 5-2, Backhus allowed another base hit, a single by Kyle Higashioka, and after an error throw from Harper on a groundout, Higashioka advanced to third base. With the game now in a save situation, Rob Thomson called on Jhoan Duran to close out the game.

Using his patented fastball, Duran sent Ezequiel Duran down on strikes for out number two, but allowed a single up the middle to Danny Jansen, making it a 5-3 game. So with the tying run at the plate, Duran shook off the single and forced Evan Carter to ground out to first on a nice grab from Harper at first to end the game, with the Phillies hanging on to a 5-3 victory.

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