Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber sets leadoff HR mark, but hurts elbow

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber set the MLB single-season record with his 14th leadoff home run Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays before being removed from the game in the fourth inning due to a hyperextended left elbow.

In the bottom of the first inning, Schwarber sent a 1-0 fastball from Rays starter Taj Bradley 437 feet to center field, moving ahead of Alfonso Soriano, who had 13 leadoff homers in 2003 with the New York Yankees. The Phillies went on to win 9-4.

Schwarber’s 35th homer of the season was the 45th leadoff homer of his career, with 32 coming since joining the Phillies in 2022.

“It’s a cool thing,” Schwarber said. “When you’re all said and done, whenever it’s over with, you can look back at all the cool things that happened in your career. It’ll probably be a little more enjoyable whenever I play my last game.”

Schwarber walked to lead off the bottom of the third inning and appeared to injure his elbow diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt by Tampa Bay catcher Logan Driscoll.

He was replaced at designated hitter by Buddy Kennedy in the fourth.

“I didn’t feel pain or nothing,” Schwarber said. “I kind of extended it and it was weird. I went down [to the batting cage] and took a swing and it didn’t feel good.”

Said manager Rob Thomson: “As far as I’m concerned, he’s day-to-day. I’m going to put him in [tomorrow’s] lineup tonight and then we’ll see where he’s at tomorrow.”

Schwarber said he received treatment during the game and there was a little bit of swelling. He said there’s nothing structurally wrong with his elbow, so if he can tolerate what it feels like to swing a bat, he’ll play in Wednesday’s series finale as the Phillies go for a three-game sweep.

After enduring a 17-game homer drought and then hitting just one homer in 23 games, Schwarber has gone on a tear with seven home runs in his past eight games, including three in his first at-bat of a game.

The 31-year-old designated hitter leads the Phillies in home runs and RBI (95). His career high in both categories came in 2023 with Philadelphia when he hit 47 homers and had 104 RBIs.

In his 11th major league season, Schwarber is hitting .251 and has an .869 OPS.

Schwarber has led off for the Phillies in all 133 games he has started this season. He missed 10 days with a groin strain in early July.

Schwarber, as a leadoff hitter, has been a hot button issue for most of his time in Philadelphia, but he seems to have silenced some critics this season with his production.

“Looking at the way it’s gone throughout my career with not having success there to start and still … to kind of figure it out … I feel really confident with the way that I want to take my at bats,” Schwarber said. “From seeing where I started to where I am now, I could definitely say I feel good about the adjustments I’ve made.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.