Kyle Schwarber blasts four home runs as the Phillies crush the Braves: ‘What an unbelievable night’
Schwarber became the first Phillie since Mike Schmidt and the 21st player in MLB history to finish a game with four home runs. He also set a franchise single-game record with nine RBIs.
Ronald Acuña Jr. didn’t move an inch as Kyle Schwarber’s first homer of the night sailed above his head, all the way to the second deck in right field.
And six innings later, when Schwarber launched his fourth home run in as many at-bats, Acuña once again could only watch it fly.
The Braves star — and the rest of Atlanta’s outfield — could do nothing to combat Schwarber’s homer barrage on Thursday night. He became the 21st player in baseball history and first Phillie since Mike Schmidt did so in 1976 to hit four homers in one game.
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“It just cooperated,” Schwarber said. “I’ve been saying, you can do everything right and get out, and you can do everything wrong and get a hit. It just happened to cooperate and I got some pitches, put some good swings on it, and that was the result.”
The other three Phillies to hit four home runs in a game -- Ed Delahanty in 1896, Chuck Klein in 1936, and Mike Schmidt in 1976 -- are all in the Hall of Fame.
Schwarber wasn’t the only one teeing off, as the Phillies tied a franchise record with seven total homers to rout the Braves, 19-4.
“I thought it was a big character victory for the club,” said manager Rob Thomson.
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They emphatically bounced back from three straight losses to the Mets, who lost to Miami on Thursday night to put the Phillies back up by five games in the NL East with 28 games remaining for both teams.
And Schwarber, who did not homer at all in Queens, more than made up for lost time. He padded his National League lead with a franchise-record nine RBIs and now has 119 RBIs for the season.
The Phillies offense fired on all cylinders from the beginning of the game, when they picked up starter Aaron Nola after his shaky first inning.
Nola was tagged for three runs as he struggled to locate his fastball. With the bases loaded, he walked to force in a run, then gave up a two-run double to Michael Harris II. Nola needed 37 pitches for the inning, which ended when J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott combined to catch Ozzie Albies stealing home.
“I really needed to focus on getting that leadoff guy out and trying to make my pitches,” Nola said. “The command really wasn’t there tonight, I felt like. After that first, I got some quick outs, which helped.”
After Schwarber opened the scoring for the Phillies with a solo shot in the first, Realmuto tied things up, 3-3, with a two-run homer that carried 423 feet to left field. After Brandon Marsh bunted for a base hit, Max Kepler put the Phillies in front, 5-3, with his own two-run shot.
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When Nola came back to the mound with the lead, he shut down the Braves for the next four innings and was much more efficient. In the sixth, he allowed a solo homer to Matt Olson, but responded by striking out Acuña.
It marked the 1,845th strikeout of his career, as Nola surpassed his former teammate Cole Hamels for third all-time in Phillies history.
Nola and Hamels played together on the Phillies during the 2015 season. As a rookie, Nola witnessed Hamels’ no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs.
“I think there’s been some really, really great pitchers that have come through here,” Nola said. “I just want to keep making starts and have good years and be healthy and put the team in a good chance to win every time I’m out there. Be the best teammate I can be, and go try to win every game that I pitch.”
The Phillies offense continued to run up the score. Every starter recorded a hit by the end of the fourth inning, in which the Phillies scored six runs and collectively hit for the cycle. Harrison Bader tripled, Stott singled, Trea Turner and Alec Bohm both doubled, and Schwarber hit his second homer of the game.
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Schwarber’s third home run of the game came in the fifth inning, an opposite-field, three-run shot off lefty reliever Austin Cox. Most of the stadium was already standing when Schwarber came up again in the seventh, and he delivered with yet another three-run shot for his fourth home run of the game.
With two outs in the seventh and the game well out of hand, the Braves brought in second baseman Vidal Bruján to pitch the rest of the game. Down in the batting cage between innings, Schwarber wondered aloud to his teammates.
“How many guys have hit five?” he asked.
No one responded.
“I was like, ‘Oh, OK, well, that answers your question,’” Schwarber said. (As he suspected, the answer is zero.)
When Schwarber came up to face Bruján, he barely missed history. He didn’t get the barrel on a 57.4 mph pitch that was straight down the middle, and popped it up.
“I got a mental block somewhere in my head that I’m not very good against position players,” Schwarber joked.
But even if he didn’t secure a new major-league record, Schwarber still wrote his name in Phillies history. His helmet from the game is headed to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
And when Schwarber left Citizens Bank Park Wednesday, he had 49 home runs on the season, a new career high and nine behind Ryan Howard’s Phillies record of 58.
“What an unbelievable night that guy had,” Nola said. “What a year he’s having.”