Kyle Schwarber became the 21st player in major league history to hit four home runs in a game, highlighting the Philadelphia Phillies’ 19-4 rout of the visiting Atlanta Braves on Thursday.
Schwarber belted a solo homer in the first inning, a two-run shot in the fourth, a three-run blast in the fifth and a mammoth three-run shot in the seventh. He had a chance for a fifth home run when he came to the plate in the eighth against infielder Vidal Brujan, but he flied out to left on a 57 mph pitch.
J.T. Realmuto, Max Kepler and Bryce Harper also went deep as the Phillies tied their franchise record with seven homers. Schwarber, who finished with a club-record nine RBIs, leads the National League with 49 home runs and 119 RBIs.
Michael Harris II knocked in two runs and Matt Olson homered for Atlanta. Cal Quantrill (4-12) allowed nine runs and nine hits — including four homers — in 3 1/3 innings. He had no walks and no strikeouts.
Making his third start following a three-month injury absence, Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola (3-7) gave up four runs and four hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out four.
Atlanta scored three times in the first inning against Nola, but Schwarber and his teammates took over from there.
Schwarber began to turn the momentum with a long home run off Quantrill with one out in the bottom of the first. After a base hit by Harper, Realmuto tagged Quantrill for a two-run shot. Then with two outs in the frame, Kepler launched a two-run blast of his own into right-center field, making it 5-3.
Harper went deep in the third inning before the Phillies erupted for six more runs in the fourth. RBI hits from Bryson Stott and Trea Turner ended Quantrill’s night before Austin Cox came on and promptly gave up a two-run homer to Schwarber.
Cox yielded a two-run double to Alec Bohm later in the frame as the hosts’ lead extended to 12-3.
Schwarber came up against Cox again in the fifth and sent an opposite-field home run over the wall in left field, making it 15-3.
His line drive deep into the right field seats in the seventh made Schwarber the fourth Phillie ever — and the first since Mike Schmidt in 1976 — to hit four homers in a game.
