After posting the 21st four-homer game in MLB history, Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber went 10 games without a home run.
Then he launched No. 50 on Tuesday against the NL East-rival New York Mets.
Schwarber deposited a three-run, bell-ringing dinger to center field in the bottom of the seventh inning, staking his division-leading Phillies to a 7-1 lead in what turned out to be a 9-3 victory. He lifted an 87-mph cutter 437 feet, and he had a packed Citizens Bank Park on its feet.
Schwarber is just the second Phillies player ever to go yard at least 50 times in a season. The only other is Ryan Howard, who piled up 58 home runs during his 2006 NL MVP campaign. Howard was 26 years old that season and one season removed from winning NL Rookie of the Year.
Meanwhile, Schwarber is 32 and with his fourth MLB team. The three-time All-Star has a chance to win NL MVP after hitting the half-century mark in big flies, too.
Enjoying a late-career explosion, Schwarber has delivered at least 38 home runs in each of his four seasons with the Phillies.
In total, he has collected 181 home runs while mashing for Philadelphia. There are only two players in MLB history with more home runs in their first four seasons with a team, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs: Mark McGwire (191 homers with the St. Louis Cardinals) and Babe Ruth (189 homers with the New York Yankees).
Ruth is third all time in MLB home run history. McGwire is 11th. Schwarber is a distant 120th, but that doesn’t take away from his four-year run with the Phillies, especially his power-surged 2025. Schwarber leads all NL players in home runs this season, and he’s first in the majors in RBI.
Schwarber — who previously played for the Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals and Boston Red Sox — won MVP honors at this year’s All-Star Game after he hit three consecutive homers during the Midsummer Classic’s first swing-off.
He also notched his 1,000th career hit this season. Fittingly, it arrived in home run form as the first of his two taters July 25 in a 12-5 win over the Yankees.
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