Andrew McCutchen and the Texas Rangers rebounded after a late collapse to post a 5-4, 10-inning victory over the host Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
Corey Seager and Jake Burger hit early home runs for Texas, which lost Thursday’s season opener 5-3 but rallied in this one to give Skip Schumaker his first win as Rangers manager.
Brandon Marsh notched the game-tying hit in the ninth for Philadelphia, which then had an opportunity to win it in the 10th after allowing two runs in the top half of the frame.
Texas reliever Tyler Alexander hit Otto Kemp to open the 10th, putting runners on first and second. With two outs, Bryce Harper’s single made it 5-4 and brought the winning run to the plate. But Alexander got Alec Bohm to pop out to end it.
With Philadelphia trailing 3-0, Bohm singled with two outs in the ninth against Robert Garcia, who then walked Edmundo Sosa to bring the tying run to the plate.
Chris Martin (1-0) came on and appeared to have retired Adolis Garcia, but Burger dropped a wind-swept foul ball that would have ended it. Two pitches later, Garcia flared a double into left to score Bohm.
The next batter was Marsh, who lined a hit into right-center to tie it at 3-3.
The Rangers promptly bounced back against Jhoan Duran (0-1) in the 10th, scoring the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and then tacking on an insurance run on McCutchen’s two-out base hit.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola gave up three runs and five hits over five innings, walking two and striking out seven. He allowed a solo homer to Seager in the first inning and a two-run shot to Burger in the third.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia did not manage a hit against spot starter Jacob Latz, who got the nod because Jacob deGrom woke up Saturday with a stiff neck. Latz allowed just two baserunners – an error and a walk – and struck out three in four scoreless innings.
The Phillies got their first hit in the fifth when J.T. Realmuto reached on an infield single against reliever Cole Winn, but they didn’t manage another hit until there were two outs in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
