PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Schwarber picked the perfect time — and way — to end his recent drought: a game-tying 455-foot Schwarbomb in a must-win Game 3 of the National League Division Series.
With the Phillies trailing by one entering the fourth inning on Wednesday night, Schwarber smashed a no-doubter off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto that cleared the right-field seats at Dodger Stadium. It marked Schwarber’s 22nd career postseason home run, tying him with Yankees legend Bernie Williams for the third most in MLB history. Only Manny Ramirez (29) and Jose Altuve (27) have hit more.
Schwarber’s solo shot came off his bat at 117.4 mph, per Statcast, making it the second-hardest-hit home run of his career, including the regular season. It trails only the 119.7 mph homer he hit off Yu Darvish in Game 1 of the 2022 NLCS.
Of course, majestic postseason homers are certainly nothing new for Schwarber.
His latest blast was his fifth career postseason home run to travel at least 450 feet. That’s not only the most in the Majors since Statcast began tracking in 2015, but only one other player has even hit more than one such homer — and that’s Freddie Freeman … with two.
Schwarber’s homer snapped an 0-for-22 slump dating back to the regular season that included starting the NLDS 0-for-8 with five strikeouts. His first hit of the series was also the Phillies’ first hit of the night after Yamamoto had cruised through three innings — and it helped trigger a three-run inning to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead at the time.
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