Alec Bohm smacked a tiebreaking two-run double in the top of the 10th inning and the visiting Philadelphia Phillies went on to beat the Washington Nationals 7-3 on Opening Day Thursday.
With two outs in the 10th inning of a 3-3 game, runner Bryson Stott stole third and Bryce Harper walked against Colin Poche (0-1). Bohm then lined a double into the gap in left-center to score both runners, and JT Realmuto added a two-run triple to make it 7-3.
Harper and Kyle Schwarber hit seventh-inning solo home runs for the defending NL East-champion Phillies.
Jose Alvarado (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
Keibert Ruiz had two hits, including a homer, for the Nationals.
Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler allowed a run on two hits over six innings. He struck out eight and walked two.
Washington got a stellar start from left-hander MacKenzie Gore in his first opener. The 26-year-old tossed six innings of one-hit ball, didn’t walk a batter and struck out 13 for a new Nationals Opening Day record.
With Washington trailing 3-1, Dylan Crews walked leading off the eighth against Jordan Romano and Jacob Young was hit by a pitch. After a double steal, CJ Abrams grounded softly to first, scoring Crews. James Wood struck out, but Luis Garcia Jr. blooped a single to center to tie it.
Schwarber singled leading off the second for the only hit off Gore.
In the fifth, Ruiz capped a 12-pitch at-bat against Wheeler when he homered into the Nationals bullpen in right.
Manager Rob Thomson’s altered batting order — with Trea Turner leading off and Schwarber batting fourth instead of leading off against a lefty starter — paid off against the Washington bullpen in the seventh.
With one out, Harper homered to center off right-handed reliever Lucas Sims. With two outs, lefty Jose A. Ferrer came on to face Schwarber, who homered to right-center on the first pitch.
In the Philadelphia eighth, Max Kepler doubled and Nick Castellanos singled him to third. Ferrer struck out Stott and Brandon Marsh, but then uncorked a wild pitch to Turner that allowed Kepler to score, making it 3-1.
–Field Level Media
