On Thursday afternoon, the Texas Rangers officially opened their 2026 season with an Opening Day tilt against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Rangers battled until the very end, getting the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but still fell just short, losing 5-3.

For the most part, the day belonged to Phillies star pitcher Cristopher Sanchez, who earned the win, pitching six shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out 10 Rangers batters.

First-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker knew that there wasn’t much any lineup could have done against a pitcher that locked in.

“I’m not sure anyone was going to do much today against Sanchez,” Schumaker said after his first game as Rangers manager.

“He was just that good," Schumaker said. "He was 97 with an elite changeup that felt like it had the same type of spin, according to the guys. It was just a challenging day overall.”

Still, despite being locked down for much of the afternoon, the Rangers showed fight in the game’s final frame.

Jake Burger ripped a two-run home run, and Danny Jansen laced an RBI single to score all three Texas runs and give the team a chance in the ninth. That alone gave Schumaker something to look at.

“I think we’re going to be OK,” Schumaker said. “I loved the fight at the end, as I said, I think we’re going to be just fine if we continue with the at-bats that we had at the end of the game."

Nathan Eovaldi got the start for the Rangers and looked pretty solid overall, but allowed a pair of home runs that amounted to five earned runs allowed on the afternoon for him.

“It was frustrating,” Eovaldi said when discussing his outing. “It was kinda right out of the gate, fastball moved middle-in, and Turner turned it into a single, and then with Schwarber I was trying to go curveball back-foot, went a little quick, and left it out over and he put a good swing on it and hit a home run.

“It wasn’t an ideal first inning, throwing 24 pitches, but I was able to get the pitch count down the next couple of innings,” Eovaldi said.

“Going into the fifth, it was just frustrating," Eovaldi said. "Crawford and Turner put up good at-bats, but I was able to get two outs with Schwarber and Harper. Then, with Bohm, I fell behind 2-0, made a bad pitch, and he hit a home run.”

The Rangers will be back in action for Game Two of their season and series with the Phillies on Saturday afternoon at 4:05 p.m. ET.

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