Kyle Schwarber Makes History with Four Home Runs
In a stunning performance, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies became the 21st player in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in a single game during a 19-4 rout of the Atlanta Braves on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.
The 32-year-old set a franchise record for the Phillies, racking up 9 RBIs and taking the lead in the National League with a personal-best of 49 home runs.
Schwarber kicked off his home run spree in the first inning, as the Braves initially led 3-0. Facing Braves starter Cal Quantrill, he connected with a 2-1 curveball and sent it 450 feet into the second deck, narrowing the gap to 3-1.
His second homer arrived in the fourth inning. With the Phillies leading 8-3, he launched an 80 mph curveball from Austin Cox, curving it around the foul pole for a two-run shot that made it 10-3.
Continuing his impressive night, Schwarber hit his third homer off Cox in the fifth inning. This time, he smacked a 93-mph fastball over the left-field wall, further extending the lead to 15-3.
With the score at 15-4 in the seventh and two runners on base, Schwarber hit a three-run homer off Braves reliever Suero’s 85 mph changeup, stamping his name in the record books.
“It’s pretty cool,” he commented after the game. “It was a fun night, and the atmosphere was great. I couldn’t ask for a better group to share this with.”
Schwarber’s accomplishment brings to mind Mike Schmidt, the last Phillies player to achieve four homers in a game, which he did against the Chicago Cubs back in April 1976. This marks the third instance of a player hitting four home runs in a game this season, following Eugeno Suarez and Nick Kurtz.
Reflecting on how everything clicked, Schwarber said, “You can get everything right and then sometimes it won’t work out. But tonight, everything just came together.” He even joked about missing out on a fifth home run against a position player, acknowledging how tricky that can be.
Throughout his 11-year career, Schwarber has amassed 333 home runs while playing for the Cubs, Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, and Phillies, surpassing his previous high of 47 homers in 2023 with Philadelphia.
The Phillies (77-57) are set to face the Braves (61-73) again in the second game of their four-game series at 6:45 PM on Friday.
