Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber sets leadoff HR mark, exits with injury

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 left elbow discomfort.

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.

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

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. The Phillies said Schwarber would be evaluated further.

Philadelphia won 9-4.

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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.