SAN DIEGO — The legend of Kyle Schwarber continues to grow.
He’s won over the hearts of everyone in the Phillies clubhouse with his steady demeanor and powerful swings in the biggest moments.
His first signature postseason moment as a Phillie came at a big time.
On Yu Darvish’s first pitch of the sixth inning, Schwarber slapped an inside cutter that cleared the second deck of right field. At 488 feet, it was the longest home run in the 20-year history of Petco Park. The ball came off the bat at 119.7 mph. It was the hardest hit ball in postseason history and fifth-hardest overall since Statcast began tracking exit velocity in 2015.
Schwarber said he was waiting for that pitch.
“I was on fastball and saw it spinning in the middle,” he said.
Home runs aren’t supposed to land there. Tony Gwynn Jr. mentioned on the Padres radio broadcast that the second deck in right field at Peco Park is pushed back. Austin Nola told J.T. Realmuto that he’s never seen a ball land that far.
Schwarber looked like he was driving on the golf course, according to Rhys Hoskins.
“One of those that you don’t really need to look at — kind of just hear it,” Hoskins said. “Man, I’ve been coming here for five years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody sniff the second deck.”
But this is what Schwarber does. He has ten career postseason home runs. The average distanced traveled on those dingers is 422 feet. It was also not his first home run against Darvish in an LCS:
It’s a cool feeling, but he could care less where the ball lands.
“I would have took it if it went in the first row,” Schwarber said. “I really don’t care. A point is a point.”
When asked about his reaction to Schwarber’s long drive, reliever José Alvarado paused at his locker and tried to find the right words.
“488 feet? Wow.”
Enough said.
Bryce Harper, who homered to give Philadelphia the lead in the fourth, had the reaction of the night. FOX cameras caught the slugger with his mouth wide open in disbelief. The shock was genuine.
“Yeah. It was far,” Harper said.
Both Harper and Hoskins described the ball as “getting small pretty fast.”
It’s every ballplayer’s dream to hit a towering home run that silences a stunned away crowd in the postseason. Schwarber will have time — maybe after his career is over — to reflect on just how neat it is to hit a baseball that far on the biggest stage. For now, 488 is just a number and those don’t matter in the postseason.
“The biggest thing here is trying to get a win at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter who it is or whatever. If we can get a win at the end of the day, that’s what it’s about,” Schwarber said.
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