It was what an opening day pitching matchup should be. The Rangers ace, who put up an almost hard-to-believe 1.73 ERA last year, against the Phillies ace, who toted around a 2.50 ERA.

The Rangers Nathan Eovaldi threw up two mistakes. The Phillies Cristian Sanchez was nearly unhittable.

When Eovaldi gave up the two-run homer to Kyle Schwarber in Philadelphia’s bottom of the first, the Rangers knew they had their work cut out for them. When he gave up the three-run homer to Alec Bohm in the fifth to make it 5-0, you know it was hopeless.

Cristian Sanchez was just too good. The Rangers bats came alive in the ninth, scoring three and putting the tying run at the plate. But the rally fell short. 

It’s official. The Rangers have been eliminated from having an undefeated season. 

What was a bit frustrating as they ended up with eleven strikeouts and just one walk. This was from a team that worked on cutting down its swing and miss, and dialing up walks in spring training.

Hopefully it was a case of they just ran into a great pitcher and they will be better than this the rest of the season.

You know Eovaldi will be better than this. It was just one of those days. When that happens on opening day, it gets magnified. 

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