Phillies Show Fight Late but Nola’s Home Run Trouble Looms Large in Loss
Kyle Ross/Imagn Images
For eight innings, the Phillies looked stuck in neutral at the worst possible time, digging a hole that proved just too deep to overcome. The late rally showed the same stubborn fight that defined last season, but the damage off Aaron Nola came too early to erase, dropping game two, 5-4 in extra innings.
Thursday’s opening day was the warmest opening day in Phillies recorded history where it was a fitting 76 degrees. As a juxtaposition today was the coldest first pitch at Citizens Bank Park since 2019, which was 45 degrees when Phillies starter Aaron Nola threw the first pitch today. The Phillies were looking to continue their series dominance at home with an early season series win over the Texas Rangers. They have won 10 straight regular season series at Citizens Bank Park, which is 7 short of the team record, set in 1977. One of the hallmarks of the Phillies last year was how dominant they were last season at home, when they were 22-3-1 in season series, and while its early think about season series wins, the way the Phils play at home will likely be an indication of how the season goes for them this season.
In tonight’s game, the cold weather made for the ball to not travel well early on, but that didn’t stop the Rangers from getting on the board early with Corey Seager taking Aaron Nola fastball to get the scoring started with a home run and gave the Rangers their first lead of the season. In the third inning, we got to see one of the biggest questions surrounding Phillies rookie Justin Crawford coming into spring training, which was his defense. He saved a run with a leaping catch against the wall, which was extremely high on the level of difficulty scale.
Later in that inning, Jake Burger took another Nola pitch and hit it off the foul pole for a two-run home run giving the Rangers a 3-0 lead, which because of the Phillies inability to get past the Rangers pitching, for more than two hits. Waiting until the 9th to get a base hit into the outfield, the Phils took full advantage of this and tied the game in the bottom of the 9th, however in the 10th the Rangers scored 2 runs and took the 5-3 lead. The Fightin’ Phils never gave up and started another rally, which unfortunately came up short, dropping today’s game 5-4. This all means that the Phillies will have pressure on them to keep the series winning streak alive until tomorrow.
Nola’s Struggles With the Long Ball Continue
Something that we saw frequently last season in the games where Aaron Nola struggled was his battles with the long ball. This was apparent today as well, when Nola gave up with two home runs that were pitches that Nola didn’t finish well. This has been something that has been progressively happening more and more for Nola over the past few seasons, he gave up 18 home runs in 1 games last season. While it wasn’t as noticable in 2024 because his velocity still averaged 95 mph on his fastball, but now that his average velocity is 92, he doesn’t have the velocity to bail him out when he doesn’t locate his fastball well.
The common thread today on both home runs weren’t pitch type or velocity, they were from Nola not finishing his pitches off and leaving them up. This is a common occurrence when a pitcher who is a power arm loses velocity and hasn’t compensated for this with improved location. This is far from something that is exclusive to Nola, but he has not located his pitches better and kept everything low in the zone. Until he makes that change, which he did in the spot start against the Dodgers in the playoffs last year, he will continue to struggle with the long ball. Manager Rob Thomson said after the game that Nola’s just made 2 mistakes, but still didn’t address the location issue, rather stating that his velocity touched 94.
The Phillies Offense Didn’t Wake Up Until Late
For the first 8 innings of the season, the Phillies offense looked completely confused by Rangers pitching, and only managed one hit, and that was a infield hit by JT Realmuto at that. When the 9th around the Phils looked like they flipped a mental switch and decided to battle against Rangers co-closer Robert Garcia. Alec Bohm got the two out rally started by getting the Phillies their first hit into the outfield with a flare to right center. Edmundo Sosa pinch hit for Bryson Stott and drew an impressive walk, and then Berger gave Adolis Garcia another life with his second error on a popup, then Garcia thanked him with a double down the line tying the game at 3.
After Jhoan Duran struggled a bit with control, the Phils came back in the 10th and battled again, with Realmuto on second, Otto Kemp was hit by a pitch, then Turner popped out, and Kyle Schwarber struck out on a pitch that was a ball, but he used the ABS challenge and lost earlier in the at-bat, so he didn’t have a challenge left. Bryce Harper came up 0-4 and got his first hit of the season which brought in Realmuto and gave the Phils another life. Bohm came up with another chance to keep the game going and he popped out to Seager to end the rally and the game.
The Fighting Phils Carry Over From Last Season
The Phillies last year were never out of any game in the regular season, making opposing pitchers earn all 27 outs. This is still a huge part of the makeup of the team obviously. It looked like the Phils offense was dead in the water until the 9th inning, when they looked like a team that was not seeking a home run, but went deep into at-bats and fought off pitches which gave them chances to hit in better counts. This is where the Phils had so much success last year. We know the home run potential this team has with Schwarber, Harper and Garcia in the lineup, but the fight this team has showed up in the 9th.
While this was a loss that will sting, the positives that saw today are things that can carry over into the rest of the season. We knew that 162-0 was not possible, but the Phils can salvage the series tomorrow with a win. If the Phils come out earlier with some offense in front of Jesus Luzardo tomorrow, a win is more likely, keeping the series streak alive.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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