Jean Segura makes sure the Phillies’ opening-day performance is a crowd pleaser | Bob Brookover

The list of things the Phillies did well Thursday at Citizens Bank Park was long, but the only thing that could provide true customer satisfaction to the returning fans on this wind-chilled opening day was a victory over the Atlanta Braves.

That, as it turned out, was difficult to secure.

When the teams completed nine innings, the score was even at 2-2 and the ballpark tension that was absent during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season was palpable even though the crowd of 8,529 was nowhere near capacity.

“So much better, so much better,” Phillies ace Aaron Nola said after delivering a brilliant performance that was ended by one misplaced pitch that Pablo “The Panda” Sandoval blasted into the right-field seats for a game-tying home run. “That’s how it should be. Hopefully it will be more [people] soon. It was good to hear humans in the stands. The fans would get loud with two strikes and when we scored. It was way better. It’s what we are used to.”

The Phillies saved the best for last, winning the game 3-2 in the bottom of the 10th inning, thanks in part to one of the leftover rule changes from last season.

» READ MORE: Phillies beat Braves, 3-2, in 10th inning behind rebuilt bullpen

You could argue whether the top of the 10th or the bottom of the inning was more exciting.

Rookie Connor Brogdon was the fourth reliever to follow Nola into the game and it’s fresh in everybody’s memory around here that just the sight of guys warming up in the bullpen a year ago was cause for a queasy feeling.

On this afternoon, however, the trio of Archie Bradley, Jose Alvarado and Hector Neris got the Phillies to extra innings with a minimal amount of indigestion. Alvarado had some control issues, walking the first batter he faced and hitting another with a 0-2 pitch, but he also struck out the side, finishing off the top of the eighth with a 100 mph fastball.

Brogdon had the toughest assignment of all because the Braves got to start the top of the 10th with a runner at second base, a COVID-19 rule implemented last season in an attempt to keep games from going too long.

With Ozzie Albies at second, Brogdon had to face reigning National League MVP Freddie Freeman.

“He’s a really great hitter, no question about it,” Brogdon said. “I just wanted to go to my best stuff, which is changeup-fastball and I think I went changeup there and tried to get him out in front.”

» READ MORE: An emotional reopening day for the Phillies, their fans, and their workers | David Murphy

Freeman got Albies to third base with a grounder to second baseman Jean Segura, but that was still a victory for Brogdon. A bigger victory immediately followed when he got Marcell Ozuna, the NL’s 2020 home run leader, to hit a 1-2 fastball to Roman Quinn in shallow center field. That took care of the second out of the inning and the duo of Quinn and catcher J.T. Realmuto combined to record the third out. Quinn made a strong throw to the plate that allowed Realmuto to slide in front of Albies for a tag that completed a double play.

Now, it was the Phillies’ turn to start the inning with a runner at second and Bryce Harper quickly advanced to third when Realmuto grounded out to Albies at second.

Great players were playing the game the way it is supposed to be played.

After Alec Bohm lined out for the second out of the inning, Jean Segura was immediately ready to hit even though he wasn’t on deck. He knew the Braves were going to order right-hander Nate Jones to walk the left-handed hitting Didi Gregorius.

“They’ve been doing that since last year,” Segura said. “They walked Didi like four or five times. Every time they do that, I just want to go right to the plate and hit because I know they are going to walk him and pitch to me.”

» READ MORE: Phillies fans return home to Citizens Bank Park for the first time since 2019

Segura went up first-pitch swinging and grounded a ball past third baseman Austin Riley to give the Phillies a wild walk-off win on opening day.

“Jean is extremely competitive and he works really hard,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “I love being around him. He makes me laugh. He’s funny. He always has a smile on his face and he has a real competitive spirit. He wants to be great. He was walking to the plate before I even knew Didi was being walked. I think he took it as a challenge.”

It was only one game and the Phillies know that they can only gain a true seal of approval by doing something special over 162 games. But you have to start somewhere and the fact that they started with a win over the team that has won their division for three straight years was satisfying.

“If we play the type of game that we played today, I guarantee you we are going to be in the playoffs,” Segura said. “No doubt.”

After a nine-year absence, that would be a real crowd-pleaser.