Kyle Schwarber stepped back up to bat in the seventh inning, and everyone in Citizens Bank Park stood up.
The star slugger had homered three times already, as the Phillies were pummeling the rival Atlanta Braves on Thursday night, but there was just a feeling in the air that he wasn't done.
Then, with runners at first and second, Braves right-hander Wander Suero left a 1-2 changeup hanging over the plate. Schwarber's bat got around to it in an instant and sent the ball rocketing toward the right field seats.
Schwarber did it again: Four home runs, en route to a 19-4 Phillies win that the club severely needed coming off the disastrous Mets series up in Queens, and in delivery of a night at the ballpark that the South Philadelphia faithful will be sharing memories about for a long, long time.
There was just a feeling that something special was going to happen.
"It was amazing, that guy's awesome," said starting pitcher Aaron Nola, who rebounded with his own big game on Thursday night, while also moving past Cole Hamels for the third-most strikeouts all-time in Phillies history.
"I don't know what else to say, I mean, the guy's having a year for the ages," Nola continued about Schwarber (via NBC Sports Philadelphia). "It's just awesome to watch. He's a hard worker, great teammate, great guy, and for him to do something like that, especially at home, too, it's special."
Here's another look at it by a few notable numbers...
450
The number of feet Schwarber's first home run traveled on Thursday night.
Nola would eventually settle down and push through six innings in a winning decision, but not before he stumbled out of the gate to put the Phillies in an early 3-0 hole.
Schwarber immediately cut into it in the bottom of the first.
Braves starter Cal Quantrill tried to get a curveball across, but Schwarber tee'd up on it and launched the pitch into the second deck in right with no doubt anywhere about where it was going.
The Phillies were on the board quickly, and Schwarber's shot was followed up by two more homers from J.T. Realmuto and Max Kepler in that same frame with runners on, which flipped the situation from the Phillies being down 3-0 to up 5-3 just as fast.
It wasn't just Schwarber. Every Phillie was ready to hit on Thursday night.
1,618
The combined footage of Schwarber's home runs from Thursday night.
His third in the fifth inning carried 378 feet to the opposite field in left, but the other three? All his signature: Quick swings that got a hold of the ball and sent it streaking straight for the right-field seats.
That sight has been a regular occurrence since Schwarber arrived to Philadelphia in 2022, but increasingly so this year.
21
The number of players in MLB history to hit four home runs in a single game.
Schwarber became the 21st on Thursday night, and the third in 2025 alone after Eugenio Suárez did it on April 26 when he was still with the Diamondbacks, and when the Athletic's Nick Kurtz reached the feat on July 26, becoming the first ever rookie to do so.
4
The number of Phillies who have hit four home runs in a game all-time, with Schwarber joining a short list of Mike Schmidt (April 17, 1976), Chuck Klein (July 10, 1936), and Ed Delahanty (July 13, 1896).
Schmidt, Klein, and Delahanty are all Hall of Famers. It's some highly elite company to be around.
And it took a lot going right.
"I mean, it's pretty cool. It just cooperated, right?" Schwarber said. "You know, you can do everything right and get out, and you can do everything wrong and get a hit. It just happened to cooperate.
"Got some pitches, put some good swings on it, and that was the result. It's fun, it's exciting. You can't expect that you're gonna go up there and hit a home run every time, right? It's just not the game. You just gotta be able to go back – we got another game tomorrow – and just stay with the same approach, and if you get a hit, you do. If you don't, you don't."
But he got four of them on Thursday night, which each never had a chance of coming back.
9
The total number of runs Schwarber drove in on Thursday night, which set a Phillies single-game record to surpass the eight runs batted in by Schmidt in his four-homer game on April 17, 1976, and Jayson Werth on May 16, 2008, when the former outfielder hit three home runs against Toronto.
6
Schwarber's total plate appearances on Thursday night, with his last in the eighth having stood as a genuine shot at making it five home runs. It would've been an MLB first.
The entire ballpark was anticipating it, too, especially since Atlanta had waived the white flag and put shortstop Vidal Bruján on the mound to just get to the finish line.
Schwarber ended up popping out on a 57 mile per hour lob, but walked back to the dugout with a standing ovation from fans as a makeshift curtain call.
Afterwards, though, he admitted he wanted five, too.
"I shouldn't have even asked the question," Schwarber said from the clubhouse postgame. "I was in the cage and was like 'How many guys have hit five?' And no one said anything. I was like 'Welp, okay. Well, that answers the question.'"
"I know...I got a mental block somewhere in my head that I'm not very good against position players," Schwarber quipped. "But it's just you go up there and all you're just trying to do is get a good pitch."
He felt he got one. He just missed on it.
49
The number of home runs Schwarber ended Thursday night with on the season.
It's a new career high for him, what leads the National League by four over Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, and sits just one behind Seattle's Cal Raleigh with 50 for the lead across all of baseball.
The number is also just nine away from matching Ryan Howard's franchise-record 58 home runs, set during his NL MVP year back in 2006.
Schwarber has hit 12 home runs through alone through August already, and has all of September left.
41,293
The listed attendance at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday night, which went crazier with each Schwarber homer.
By his final at-bat in the eighth, the crowd had started to thin out in a blowout. But everyone still there remained on their feet, shouting "M-V-P!" chants that are getting increasingly constant – and louder.
Record citations: StatMuse, baseball-reference.
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