Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber tied a major league record by hitting four home runs against the visiting Atlanta Braves on Thursday night, becoming the second player in little more than a month to accomplish the feat.
The National League home run leader now with 49, Schwarber hit the record-tying blast on a 1-2 pitch off Atlanta reliever Wander Suero with two on and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. That also gave him a club-record nine RBIs on the night.
The Phillies won the game 19-4, hitting a club-record-tying seven home runs as a team.
Schwarber got a chance at No. 5 in the bottom of the eighth inning but popped out to shallow left field on a 57 mph pitch by Braves infielder Vidal Brujan.
“I wish I didn’t ask the question in the cage how many guys hit five homers,” Schwarber joked in a postgame interview on the Phillies’ broadcast.
Schwarber hit a solo home run to right in the first inning, putting the Phillies on the board after Atlanta scored three runs in the top of the first. He added a two-run shot in the fourth and a three-run homer in the fifth.
“It was a good night. A fun night for everyone,” Schwarber added. “Good way to start the series after the previous series (a three-game sweep in New York at the hands of the Mets).”
Schwarber is the 21st player in big-league history to hit four home runs in a game. The most recent four-homer game occurred less than five weeks ago, when the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz became the first rookie to do it on July 25 against the Houston Astros.
This is the third four-homer game by a Phillies player since 1900, with Schwarber joining Mike Schmidt (1976) and Chuck Klein (1936). Ed Delahanty also hit four on July 13, 1896, the second four-homer game in history according to MLB.com.
Schwarber is batting .248 but with 119 RBIs and a .956 OPS. The 32-year-old is in the midst of perhaps his best season in the majors, with the 49 homers now a career high and the RBIs already a career-high mark.
He was named Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game last month after hitting three home runs in a home run derby-style swing-off to win it for the NL.
–Field Level Media
