WASHINGTON (AP) — Alec Bohm hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the 10th inning Thursday, and J.T. Realmuto added a two-run triple, lifting the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-3 victory over the Washington Nationals for a successful start to their NL East title defense. Zack Wheeler went six innings for the Phillies, giving up two hits and one run — on Keibert Ruiz's homer in the fifth that put the Nationals ahead 1-0.
Washington's MacKenzie Gore recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts and allowed one hit in six shutout innings. In the seventh, Phillies sluggers Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber — both ex-Nationals — hit first-pitch homers off relievers to put Philadelphia up 2-1. The lead grew to 3-1 in the eighth before Washington tied it in the bottom half off Jordan Romano. Jose Alvarado (1-0) pitched the ninth for the win. Matt Strahm threw the 10th. Colin Poche (0-1) gave up Bohm's go-ahead double in the 10th. Eduardo Salazar allowed Realmuto's insurance hit.
Key Moment Harper heard boos at his former home ballpark — he was NL Rookie of the Year in 2012 and NL MVP in 2015 with Washington — during pregame introductions and whenever he stepped to the plate. After striking out in the first and fourth, he tied the game in the seventh by driving a 96 mph four-seam fastball from Lucas Sims 415 feet to straightaway center. Two batters later, Schwarber — dropped to fourth in the lineup, with Trea Turner moving up to the leadoff spot — connected off Jose A. Ferrer.
Key Stat Gore's 13 Ks were the most on opening day for a Nationals pitcher, one more than Max Scherzer had in 2019.
On Saturday, RHP Jake Irvin (10-14, 4.41 ERA in 2024) starts for Washington, while LHP Jesús Luzardo (3-6, 5.00 with Miami) makes his Phillies debut.
Trea Turner? Kyle Schwarber? In Game 1 of 162, it's Turner in the leadoff spot against Nationals left-hander Mackenzie Gore. The Phillies have been interested in seeing what their offense can look like with Turner leading off. Manager Rob Thomson has said that for now, Turner will lead off against lefties and Schwarber against righties. Schwarber has led off in 83.6% of his plate appearances as a Phillie and he's certainly performed, setting the major-league record last season in leadoff homers while also leading the National League with 106 walks. Pretty valuable skill set atop a lineup.
But there's also some more RBI potential if Schwarber hits second, behind Turner, or fourth, behind Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm. You can pretty much bank on Schwarber hitting 38-plus home runs in a healthy season, so putting that bat a spot or two after Harper's near-.400 on-base percentage could lead to more crooked numbers. It can't hurt to try out a couple of variations throughout a long season to see what works best.
For Turner to give the Phillies what they'd want from him in the leadoff spot, though, he needs to be able to revert to his table-setting ways. From 2015-22, Turner hit .303 with a .356 on-base percentage. As a Phillie since, Turner has hit .279 with a .328 on-base percentage, averaging 15 fewer hits and 10 fewer walks per 162 games. Philadelphia Phillies Complete coverage of the Fightin' Phils and their MLB rivals from NBC Sports Philadelphia.
He is still a very good player. He hit .295 with 21 homers and an .807 OPS in 121 games last season but it was his second straight year of extremes. Both years, he carried the offense at one point for 6-8 weeks with power. Both years, he also experienced prolonged cold spells. Ideally, there's a better balance in 2025 and beyond for a shortstop signed through 2033.
Turner and the leadoff spot isn't the only lineup focus. Perhaps more important than the structure of the one-two hitters is whether or not Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh can bounce back. Stott's batting average fell from .280 to .245 last season. He dealt with a bad elbow for most of the way which likely affected his performance — this season should give us an indication of how much. Marsh couldn't find the same offensive rhythm he found in 2023, when he hit .277 with a .372 on-base percentage that would have ranked ninth in the National League if he wasn't 30 mere plate appearances away from qualifying.
The Phillies know that both 27-year-olds have the ability in them, it's just a matter of them both doing it again in the same year to help supplement the offensive core. Here is the Phils' Opening Day lineup behind ace Zack Wheeler: Trea Turner, SS; Bryce Harper, 1B (L); Alec Bohm, 3B; Kyle Schwarber, DH (L); J.T. Realmuto, C; Max Kepler, LF (L); Nick Castellanos, RF; Bryson Stott, 2B (L); Brandon Marsh, CF (L).
Five left-handed hitters in the lineup against a lefty starter is an unusually high number, but the Phillies want to play Kepler every day and give Marsh more opportunities against southpaws. The other factor is the opponent himself. Gore is a talented 26-year-old starter who is only getting better, but he has reverse platoon splits, with lefties hitting .279/.377/.438 against him compared to .253/.325/.409 from righties.
Major League Baseball’s opening day is Thursday, March 27, 2025, and three former Hoosiers are on big league rosters. Kyle Schwarber is back for his 11th season in the majors. He’s coming off a three-year stretch with 38 or more home runs each season. The Phillies’ slugger should pass 1,000 career hits and 300 home runs this season if he stays healthy. He already has the most MLB home runs by a former IU player, and the third most hits.
After playing catcher at IU, Schwarber dabbled with first base during spring training in addition to his more typical left field and DH duties. Tim Herrin is back for his third season in the Cleveland bullpen. The lefty emerged as one of the top middle relievers in the American League in 2024, with 75 appearances, a 1.92 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 65.2 innings pitched. As a team, the Guardians were widely thought to have one of the MLB’s best bullpens. Herrin was drafted by Cleveland in the 29th round of the 2018 draft.
The Terre Haute, Ind. native pitched for IU from 2016-18. Kyle Hart is the unlikely story here. Hart, who pitched for IU from 2012-2016, has only appeared in four MLB games — and that was back in 2020 with Boston. The 32-year-old Hart is expected to be in San Diego’s starting rotation. The left-hander allowed 19 earned runs in 11 innings over four appearances in 2020 with the Red Sox, to date his only big-league experience. Hart bounced around the minors from 2021-2023 and spent the 2024 season in Korea, where he struck out 182 batters over 157 innings (2.69 ERA) to win that league’s equivalent of a Cy Young Award. That led to a big contract with San Diego for the Cincinnati native, and now a massive new opportunity as a starter.
