The defending National League champions took the field on Opening Day and started off like they were hell-bent on defending that crown. They scored five runs off new Rangers ace Jacob deGrom, and Aaron Nola looked to be in complete control.
And then the bottom of the fourth happened. Suddenly, Nola wasn’t in control anymore, the two relievers who followed him were even worse, and the Rangers had put up a nine-run inning that propelled them to a 11-7 victory.
Jacob deGrom has had the Phillies’ number over the years - though to be fair, he’s had most teams’ number over the years - but they didn’t have much problem with him on Thursday afternoon.