Four home runs in a single game is one of those ultra-rare individual feats that most great power hitters never even sniff throughout their careers.
On Thursday night, Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber really could have had five.
Schwarber crushed four home runs against Atlanta Braves pitching in his first five at-bats, becoming only the 21st player in Major League Baseball history to reach the mark. But he then got a sixth at-bat, and a golden opportunity to become the first ever to hit a fifth home run.
Facing a position player, Braves utility man Vidal Brujan, Schwarber got a 57.4 mph lob pitch and popped it sky high to invoke the infield fly rule. It was perhaps the one disappointment in the Phillies’ 19-4 romp.
Was Schwarber thinking about the opportunity to become the first player ever to hit a fifth home run in a game? Well, obviously.
“I shouldn’t have even asked the question, but I was in the cage and I was like, ‘How many guys have hit five?’” Schwarber said, per Paul Cassella of MLB.com. “And nobody said anything, so I was like, ‘Oh, OK, well that answers the question.’”
In fact, nearly every Phillies player and coach said they thought Schwarber was about to accomplish the feat. But Schwarber had a simple reason for his struggle in that moment.
“I stink against position players,” Schwarber said, per Cassella.
Fortunately, Schwarber is hitting plenty of homers against real pitchers. He’s up to 49 on the season, four ahead of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani for the National League lead.
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