The Phillies’ offensive struggles were on display for much of the weekend, and carried over into Sunday, as they were held hitless into the fifth inning for a second straight game. Though they showed late life with runs in the sixth and eighth, the early deficit proved too much in an 8–3 loss to the Rangers, sealing a series defeat.
This is the third time in the past four years the Phillies have lost their opening series, and they’ve made the playoffs in every one of those seasons. No time to overreact, but let’s look at what plagued Philly in the series finale.
Starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo surrendered six runs (all earned), and allowed two home runs — both things he only did on four occasions last season, a year in which he finished seventh in National League Cy Young voting. Luzardo hadn’t allowed that many runs to cross since July 23, 2025 versus the Boston Red Sox.
Manager Rob Thomson spoke about his starter's day, focusing on things that encouraged him:
"It's like Nola yesterday, I thought the stuff was really good," Thomson said. "Velocity was there, got a lot of swing-and-miss. First two innings he was lights out. Last two innings he was really good, and Nimmo was sitting on first pitch slider (on his home run)... Just a couple of bad pitches."
Not everything that happened for the Rangers offensively was a direct result of Luzardo’s pitching. Their sixth run of the game was pushed across after two misplays by Phillies outfielders, both of which were recorded as hits. Former Phillie Andrew McCutchen ripped a ball hard off the wall to left field. Converted outfielder Otto Kemp over pursued the ball, crashing into the wall as the ball scurried away from him, allowing Cutch to reach second base. Catcher Kyle Higashioka flied a ball to center field for what should have been the third out of the inning, but right fielder Adolis García lost the ball in the sun and it fell to the grass for a single, driving home McCutchen.
It was mentioned at the start, but the Phillies offense has struggled out of the gates both on the season overall and in the past two games.
The top three in Philadelphia’s batting order, the mainstays, have combined to go 5-for-36 with 12 strikeouts to just three walks and a ground-into-double-play.
That being said, the Phillies showed why they have the nickname ‘Fightin’s. Despite being no-hit into the fifth on back-to-back days, they stayed in it and showed life late in each contest. On Saturday, after not recording a hit through 4.2, Philly was able to get eight runners on base and drive four runs across in a 10-inning affair. And on Sunday, after the fifth inning of not recording a hit with only two walks on the ledger, Philadelphia had nine runners reach base in the final four frames, scratching across all three of their runs.
Early in the season, these are the things to look for, and they have delivered. They have more than enough time to put it all together.
"I like the fight," the Phillies manager told Metro after Sunday’s loss, "but we gotta - and we will - we gotta get it going a little bit earlier in the game."
Kemp later misplayed another ball in left that allowed a run to score. To make matters worse, that at-bat was originally supposed to end with a sac bunt, but the umpires came together and correctly ruled that Ezequiel Duran’s bunt attempt struck his foot before entering fair territory, resulting in a foul ball instead of out No. 1.
Thomson didn’t seem worried about Kemp’s prospects playing the outfield. When asked postgame, he felt strongly that Kemp will figure things out but didn’t ignore the mistakes made today:
“He's getting better and better, you know. Today was the first game in a while that he's been out in left field. (There was) a couple of balls that he thought he could catch and hit up against the wall, but he's been fine.”
The Phillies stay put for their next series, but with little time to rest. They welcome National League East foe Washington to town for a three-game set to close out March. They hope to welcome April in with their first series victory.
Taijuan Walker will start in the opener, opposed by another left-handed pitcher in Foster Griffin. The middle game is the one most fans are excited for, as it will be the major league debut of top pitching prospect Andrew Painter.
