Orion Kerkering was the first one up and though he let on two baserunners with dinky dunked hits, he escaped his jam without allowing a run. Jordan Romano would be the next one up and, well....
First impressions are powerful. How a player performs in that first impression, particularly when they are new to the organization, can cloud the opinion of people for the entirety of the season. Romano had a chance to make a solid first impression for himself as the one who is essentially replacing Jeff Hoffman, the dependable reliever from the last two seasons. A walk, a hit batter and allowing both runners to steal with ease doesn’t make the greatest of impressions. A groundball by C.J. Abrams scored one runner, but the other moved into scoring position. Romano would strike out James Wood for the second out, but Luis Garcia came up and tied it with a single.
The Phillies would load the bases in the ninth, but the crew missed a hit by pitch on Bryson Stott with two outs, who flied out to end the frame and the game would go extra innings.
In that ninth, Stott went to second as the ghost runner, Harper walked with two outs and Alec Bohm stepped up. Needing a spark, Bohm laced a double that scored both runners and gave the Phillies a 5-3 lead.
After a walk to Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, who had a golden sombrero at that point, wasted little time stretching out the lead.
That was good for a 7-3 lead, one that felt comfortable with Matt Strahm coming in to finish it off. Of course Strahm would make it a teensy bit hairy, but shutting the door was indeed the final result.
It wasn’t easy, but the victory was secured. Personally, I’d prefer a much more stress free victory, but beggars, choosers, blah blah blah...
Opening Days are usually beautiful affairs, what with the pomp and circumstance, the pageantry that is involved in the day. Introductions of the players and coaching staff, flags waving in the breeze and baseball on the field. It’s supposed to be a stress free day thanks to the fact that there are 161 more games to go.
Instead, we get what the Phillies gave us.
Inciting their own breezes by swinging and missing at basically anything MacKenzie Gore threw brought about memories of their unceremonious exit from the playoffs in 2024.
Fortunately for them, Zack Wheeler was his usual Ace-like self, matching Gore zero for zero on the scoreboard for the first four and a half inning. There were two hits total to that point, one by Kyle Schwarber and one by Keibert Ruiz. The pitchers were outstanding, but the Nationals were able to get on the board first. In the bottom of the fifth, Ruiz battled Wheeler in a twelve pitch at bat that resulted in his depositing a pitch into the bullpen for the game’s first run.
Against Gore, scratching out even a run felt like an uphill battle, but luckily for the Phillies, all thirteen of the strikeouts they accumulated against the lefty meant his pitch count climbed quickly, forcing the Nationals to use the bullpen beginning in the seventh. Lucas Sims was the first one out and after getting the first out, he had to face Bryce Harper.
Who do you think won that battle?
A tie game meant that Wheeler would get a shot to not have a loss after pitching so well. However, the offense wanted him to get a victory, so Kyle Schwarber tried to oblige.
Wheeler went quickly through the sixth, so the bullpen came into play for the Phillies this time. In the seventh, the offense did get another run, scoring Max Kepler on a wild pitch by Jose Ferrer that made the score 3-1. In the past, that bullpen would have made you feel safe and secure, but this is a new iteration. How would Rob Thomson match everything up?
Bryce Harper launched his first opening day dinger as a Phillie to tie up the game in the win over the Nationals.
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