Phillies' Kyle Schwarber says 'I can get better' as home run streak hits 5 straight games

BOSTON (AP) — Kyle Schwarber feels his surge is just getting started.

Scwharber tied a Phillies record by homering for the fifth consecutive game, hitting his major league-high 17th to lead Philadelphia over the Boston Red Sox 2-1 on Tuesday night.

“I feel I can get better," Schwarber said. “Obviously, good results. I’m more kind of looking at the overall days. Kind of the last two where I felt like it was multiple good at-bats versus just kind of one. Those are the things I more care about.”

Schwarber has six homers in a five-game span for the first time. The 33-year-old joined Bobby Abreu, Dick Allen, Odúbel Herrera, Rhys Hoskins, Mike Schmidt, Trea Turner and Chase Utley as Phillies homering in five games in a row. The most recent had been Turner from Aug. 8 to Sept. 2, 2023.

“Absolutely you want to have instant results — home run, I put a run on the board,” Schwarber said. “But you want to also feel like you’re doing more throughout your whole day and feel you’re really putting together some consistent at-bats. I feel like I’m hopefully starting to get to that point.”

Schwarber's spurt had coincided with the Phillies' turnaround under Don Mattingly, promoted from bench coach to interim manager after president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski fired manager Rob Thomson.

Philadelphia (20-22) has won three straight and six of eight, improving to 11-3 since Mattingly took over.

“He's just one of those guys that if you make mistakes, he makes you pay,” Mattingly said of Schwarber.

Schwarber played 21 games for Boston after being traded by Washington in July 2021. He hit seven home runs with a .522 slugging percentage for the Red Sox.

His familiarity Fenway Park was beneficial.

“I’ve kind of just had an eye for the park," Schwarber said. "When I got traded over, I had really good success. And then, previously, coming back one time before that I had a pretty good series. It’s just always just seems to just fit the eye. When I step in the box there’s not much that I really think about. I just go up and take an at bat.”

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