ARLINGTON – The pomp was nothing like last year. No flyover. No pennants being flown. No walkoff win.

Just a heart-breaking 5-2 loss to Boston, a game that turned on a three-run, ninth-inning homer by Red Sox No. 8 hitter Wilyer Abreu that left a sellout crowd of 37,857 at Globe Life Field a bit deflated. Well, at least they had lots of new snacks to soften the blow.

A note: Not all sellouts are created equal. A year ago, the Rangers drew 42,130 fans for the opener to celebrate the defending world champions and raise, er, drop the championship banner from the rafters. It’s the largest ever regular-season crowd in Globe Life Field history. The Rangers sold a significant number of standing room tickets for that opener and, because of extreme demand due to the World Series, there were apparently fewer comps provided. In 2023, the opener drew 38,387 and was also considered a sellout.

Here’s five thoughts from the season opener:

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In closing: Well, maybe this season will be just like 2023 for the Rangers. After all, that season began with all kinds of difficulties closing games. And that’s exactly what the Rangers had on Thursday.

Manager Bruce Bochy elected to deploy Chris Martin, the presumed de facto closer, in a tie game in the seventh (he also pitched the eighth) and then went to Luke Jackson for the ninth. With one out, Jackson lost Trevor Story on a nine-pitch at-bat after the Irving native fouled off four consecutive pitches. Kristian Campbell followed with the first hit of his career, an in-between hopper that kicked off Josh Jung’s glove into the outfield. And then, Wilyer “The Destoyer” Abreu hammered a sloppy slider into the Rangers’ bullpen for a three-run homer. It was Abreu’s third hit of the game and his second homer.

Nice curves: Nathan Eovaldi, man of many pitches, whipped out an oldie, but goodie to put together his second consecutive opening day quality start for the Rangers. Eovaldi, who favors a splitter and cutter as his primary secondary pitches, threw a ton of curveballs to Boston hitters and fooled them all afternoon. Eovaldi threw 22 curveballs to account for 25% of his 87 pitches. He got 10 misses on the pitch, the most he’s ever recorded, according to Statcast.

Eovaldi ended his afternoon with nine strikeouts and no walks. It tied the Rangers opening day record for strikeouts shared by Lance Lynn (2020), Matt Harrison (2013), Colby Lewis (2012) and Nolan Ryan (1991). However, each of the others allowed at least one free base via a walk or hit batter. It’s only the 12th time in the last 50 years any pitcher has struck out at least nine without allowing a free base on opening day.

In five career opening day starts, Eovaldi has averaged just over 5 ⅔ innings per start with a 2.86 ERA.

New jersey, same diss: Alex Bregman may be able to run, but he can’t hide from Rangers fans. The longtime Astro is now wearing Boston colors, but it didn’t stop the crowd at Globe Life Field from lustfully booing him. We will say this, it did seem like some of the throatiness faded after the first time up. So maybe a little time heals all wounds. Nah. Probably not. But, hey, it was opening day. We only see the good in all things baseball. Bregman went 0 for 4.

Defense never rests: The Rangers started Josh Smith at shortstop instead of Corey Seager as a concession to Seager’s sore calf. It paid off in the eighth inning when Smith went up the middle to field Triston Casas’ grounder behind second base. He spun and threw for the first out of the inning. Seager, as good as there is at routine plays, probably doesn’t have the range to make that play even if he’s fully healthy. Testament to Smith’s defensive ability. Kevin Pillar followed it with a sliding catch on Trevor Story’s sinking liner to center. Those outs became all the more important when Garcia walked the next two hitters before Martin entered to strike out Connor Wong.

You OK? The Rangers have maintained that Seager’s calf injury is nothing serious, but he did not play in the last three exhibitions and DH’d in the opener. His swing didn’t look very Seager-like, though, with a pair of strikeouts, a double play grounder and a fly ball to left. Seager’s calf is worth monitoring. It’s probably worth noting that Seager ended up on the IL for five weeks with a hamstring strain in 2023 that he suffered in the first week of the season. Bochy said postgame that Seager will play shortstop on Friday.