PHILADELPHIA -- There’s not been a steadier Texas Ranger over the last three years than Nathan Eovaldi.
The Rangers’ co-ace has been a rock for a rotation that became the best in baseball in 2025. So, it’s easy to expect close to perfection from him every time he steps on the mound.
On Opening Day, Eovaldi uncharacteristically faltered, and a ninth-inning rally fell short in the Rangers' 5-3 loss to the Phillies on Thursday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. The 36-year-old allowed a two-run homer to Kyle Schwarber in the first inning and a three-run homer to Alec Bohm in the fifth, ending his day. It marked the first time he was unable to complete five full innings in any of his six Opening Day starts.
Eovaldi had not allowed more than three runs in any of his previous five Opening Day outings.
“Frustrating, right out of the gate,” Eovaldi said. “Just frustrating. It'll get better, but it's frustrating. Especially at the end of the day, we get [Phillies closer Jhoan] Duran in the game, and if I only allow two [runs], it's a different ballgame.”
Eovaldi will be fine. He’s one of the Rangers’ aces for a reason. But all eyes are undoubtedly on the offense in 2026.
At the end of the day, Eovaldi’s efforts -- no matter how short they fell -- didn’t matter for an offense that struggled for most of the game. The Rangers scuffled mightily against Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez, who dominated Texas over six scoreless innings. He struck out 10 and walked zero, while allowing just three hits.
Whereas Eovaldi made two costly mistakes that the Phillies punished, Sánchez made none.
“I think we saw why he was a runner up in Cy Young [voting] last year,” first baseman Jake Burger said. “His changeup has the same shape and tightness to the ball as his sinker. He gets guys off balance real easy with that. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it done against him. ... Obviously, he's an ace. He's a bonafide superstar in the game. For us, we felt like we were seeing a lot of pitches, working some at-bats. It's unfortunate that some bounces didn't go our way, but that's baseball."
The Rangers powered a comeback attempt late, with Burger launching a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to get on the board. But the rally ultimately fell short.
Texas sent the tying run to the plate after Danny Jansen's RBI single cut the deficit to two, but Duran -- Philadelphia's All-Star closer -- slammed the door shut by inducing an Evan Carter groundout.
While there are no moral victories in baseball, the ending was as encouraging as possible in an Opening Day loss. It was a stark difference to much of 2025, when the Rangers often fell behind and couldn’t put up a fight late.
“We stayed in the fight,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “If you lose, hopefully the other side feels you a little bit, right? That's what it felt like, in my opinion. They had to get their closer going late in the game after a 5-0 lead. That's what you want to feel from the other side, if you have to lose a game.”
Texas’ offense has been on a steady decline since 2023, when the unit carried the club to a World Series title. With the turnover in coaches, players and a new manager in Schumaker, the hope was -- and still is -- for an offensive turnaround.
And the offense, for much of the season opener, looked a little too much like 2025. The ninth inning showed how things can be different in '26.
“If we fight like that over 162 [games], we're going to be OK,” Schumaker said. “So I really enjoyed seeing that part of it. Of course you want to win, but rolling over is not acceptable. We didn't do that. I'm proud of the guys for attacking it like they did.”