Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber ties MLB record with 13th leadoff home run of season

Kyle Schwarber continued his power-hitting prowess on Wednesday by slugging another leadoff home run during the Philadelphia Phillies’ game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was the 44th leadoff home run of his career, tying him for ninth all time.

The 416-foot blast to right field at Rogers Centre gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead and was Schwarber’s 13th leadoff homer of the season, tying the MLB record for most in a single season, set by Alfonso Soriano of the New York Yankees in 2003.

Schwarber’s 32nd home run of the season was his fourth in two games after he hit three bombs in the Phillies’ 10-9 win over Toronto on Tuesday.

Prior to that trio of dingers, Schwarber had not hit one out since Aug. 14 and had only one homer in his previous 24 games. He also had a three-home-run game on Aug. 7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers and has posted six multi-homer games this season for the NL East-leading Phillies.

Unless he continues on a home-run tear, Schwarber will come up short of challenging his career high in home runs (47, set in 2022), but he has a chance to set a personal best in RBI. Following Wednesday’s leadoff homer, he has 89 RBI on the season, 15 away from his career high of 104 set in 2023.