Phillies put up four runs in the 10th inning to defeat the Nationals on opening day

Despite striking out 19 times, the Phillies plated seven runs — four in the 10th inning — to defeat the Nationals on opening day in Washington.

Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber got the scoring going with homers in the seventh.

In the 10th, it was base hits from Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto that put the Phillies up for good.

WASHINGTON — Jordan Romano's debut for the Phillies was a dud.

Romano inherited a two-run lead in the eighth inning Thursday and allowed two runs on a leadoff walk, hit by pitch, and a two-out RBI single after getting ahead two strikes.

Not what anyone had in mind.

WASHINGTON — Leave it to Bryce Harper to change the narrative.

After 13 of the first 18 Phillies batters struck out Thursday against Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore, Harper belted a game-tying homer to straightaway center field against reliever Lucas Sims in the seventh inning.

Two batters later, Kyle Schwarber followed with a solo homer against reliever Jose A. Ferrer to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

The Phillies are flirting with the wrong kind of opening-day history.

Twelve of the 15 Phillies batters who came to the plate Thursday through five innings against Nationals lefty MacKenzie Gore struck out. Not only is it a career-high for Gore, but it's five shy of the Phillies' opening-day record of 15 strikeouts, set last year.

Gore struck out the side in the third inning — Nick Castellanos, Bryson Stott, and Brandon Marsh — and again in the fifth — Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Max Kepler. Every player in the lineup has struck out at least once.

WASHINGTON — The Phillies’ first hit of the season belongs to Kyle Schwarber.

Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore retired Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm in order to start the game. Kyle Schwarber, hitting cleanup, led off the second inning with a single to center field, on the first pitch he saw.

Happy Opening Day, everybody! Unless you live outside the greater Philadelphia area and were hoping to watch on MLB.tv, in which case, your offseason extends a bit longer.

Users started reporting issues with MLB.tv, MLB’s out-of-market streaming platform, on Thursday afternoon, blocking fans from watching the early slate of games on Thursday afternoon. Some teams, including the Guardians, Padres, and Mets, have moved their streaming operation in-market to MLB.tv, and those viewers are also blacked out.

So far, the service has not released an update on the outage or when service might return.

WASHINGTON — And the Phillies' opening-day leadoff hitter is ...

Trea Turner.

Well, at least for one game.

WASHINGTON — Ranger Suárez, who is opening the season on the 15-day injured list with lower back stiffness, stayed back at the Phillies facilities in Clearwater, Fla. to continue his rehab.

Manager Rob Thomson said Suárez threw a “touch-and-feel” session on flat ground on Thursday, and is scheduled to throw a 25-pitch bullpen session from the mound on Saturday. Suárez’s stint on the injured list was backdated to March 24, so the earliest he can be activated is April 8 in Atlanta.

Suárez missed nearly a month last season with lower back soreness, though he said his current injury is not as severe.

Ahead of the Phillies' opening day matchup against the Washington Nationals, former Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard joined the WIP Midday Show to discuss the team’s upcoming season.

“You still got to be excited for the team,” Howard said. “I think it’s going to be an exciting, somewhat stressful division this year. The Mets obviously came on and they played some really, really good baseball. They got Juan Soto, added him. He’s not that bad of a guy, not that bad of a player. The division definitely gets a little bit more interesting but I think with the Phillies, they just have to focus on being themselves and playing their game. And I think by doing that, they’ll be good.”

The Phillies are coming off a season that saw the team win 95 games and claim the National League East crown. Entering this season, the team’s roster remains intact. Meanwhile, other teams in the division such as the New York Mets — who spoiled the Phillies’ Red October last season — acquired 26-year-old superstar Juan Soto in free agency.

Phillies pitcher Ranger Suarez is opening the season on the injured list with a sore back. He’s expected to be ready to get back to the mound sometime next month. 

Taijuan Walker will temporarily replace Suarez as the team's fifth starter.

The team also placed Weston Wilson on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain, which he suffered during spring training last month.

Position: 1B | Age: 32 | Bats/Throws: Left/Right

Contract status: Seventh season of a 13-year, $330 million contract.

2025 outlook: It’s crazy to think that Harper is at the midpoint of his 13-year, $330 million contract. There have been unforgettable moments, from the walk-off grand slam in 2019 to the pennant-clinching homer in 2022 and his 300th career homer in 2023. The Phillies also have won more games in each full season of the Harper Era, from 81 in 2019 to 82 in 2021, 87 in 2022, 90 in 2023, and 95 last year. It’s all trending toward Cooperstown for No. 3. All that’s missing now is a World Series ring.

Right-handed pitcher Tyler Phillips was traded to the Marlins for cash considerations, the Phillies announced. 

Phillips, a Bishop Eustace grad who grew up in South Jersey, was a feel-good story last season after three solid starts (two excellent ones) to begin his big-league career. 

The Phillies have five veteran starting pitchers (plus Taijuan Walker, whose four-year, $72 million contract runs through next year) and Phillips was out of minor league options, meaning he couldn’t be sent down without clearing waivers. 

When the Phillies acquired Jesús Luzardo, 27, from Miami over the offseason in exchange for two prospects, they were counting on him recapturing his form from two seasons ago.

In 2023, he posted a 3.58 ERA over a career-high 178⅔ innings and was named the Marlins’ Game 1 starter against the Phillies in the National League wild-card series.

And he isn’t the only player the Phillies took a bet on this winter. In fact, that was somewhat of a theme across their major additions: new bullpen arm Jordan Romano and new outfielder Max Kepler also had injury-abbreviated 2024 seasons.

In a sport that schedules 162 games in 186 days, winning a division title remains the most impressive team achievement. It requires talent, but also endurance and organizational depth.

The playoffs, meanwhile, are about timing.

“When teams get hot in baseball — same thing with hockey, a team can get hot in hockey and it’s like, ‘Whoa. Watch out for [them],‘” Bryce Harper said. “We have to win the games that we need to and not let those ones fall through the cracks. I think everything else will take care of itself.”