Arlington, Texas — After winning their first World Series in franchise history last season, the Texas Rangers were back at home to host Opening Day against the newly managed Chicago Cubs. The Cubs, falling short of a playoff appearance by one game last season, look to kick off their season on the right foot and get back to the postseason for the first time in four years. Those hopes would be crushed however as the Rangers would go on to win 4-3 in extra innings.

The pitching duel for this game was Nathan Eovaldi versus Justin Steele. Eovaldi would finish the night with a final line of 6.0IP, 4H, 2ER, 1BB, 3K. The story for Steele would be unfortunately cut short, however. The left-hander would leave the game in the middle of the fifth inning with left hamstring tightness when going to field a bunt from centerfielder Leody Taveras. Steele would exit the game with a final line of 4.2IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 6K.

After minimal scoring throughout the middle innings, a chaotic ninth inning lied ahead. With the Cubs and Rangers sitting at two runs a piece, closer José Leclerc entered the game for the Rangers looking to shut the door and keep it all tied up. The right-hander would start the ninth going two up, two down, striking out Christopher Morel, and making Dansby Swanson ground out to third. Shortly after the strong start, he would go on to walk both Michael Busch and Nico Hoerner on six pitches each. With runners on first and second, a controversial call that no one expected was soon to come.

Miles Mastrobuoni entered the game in place for Nick Madrigal, trying to play off of the left-hander batter versus right-hand pitcher advantage. After going down in the count 0-1, the next pitch from Leclerc was a changeup in the dirt which Mastrobuoni swung at. Jonah Heim behind the dish didn't go to get the deflected ball, due to him thinking it was foul tipped. Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild thought otherwise, signaling that was a live ball. The missed call led to Michael Busch rounding third and scoring at home, giving the cubs a 3-2 lead.

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To kick off the bottom of the ninth, Bruce Bochy would make a substitution that he would not regret, bringing in Travis Jankowski to pinch hit in place for Ezequiel Duran. While a home run to tie the game would be the ideal result in this situation, the reality of that happen was slim to none. In Jankowski's 1,317 major league at-bats, the left-hander had only hit 10 total home runs. But miracles can always happen as they did tonight as Jankowski launched a solo shot over the right field wall to tie things back up at three.

After two quick outs, and runners standing on second and third, David Robertson would intentionally walk Cody Bellinger to give the Cubs bases loaded and two outs. Stepping up to the plate next was young Cub Christopher Morel who had a chance to give the Cubs a comfortable lead. On the very first pitch he saw, he launched a triple digit moonshot that just fell foul. Morel would go on top pop up to first later in the at-bat, stranding bases loaded.

In the bottom of the tenth, the Rangers would find themselves in a similar situation, two outs and bases loaded. At the plate stood Jonah Heim who was 0-4 on the night with two strikeouts. In this moment, anything that happened was already in the past. On the second pitch he saw, the 28-year-old smacked a ball into the right-center gap, walking it off.