The Cubs took a very early lead last night on Daniel Descalso’s lead-off homer in Seattle, and then retook the lead in the middle innings on Anthony Rizzo’s two-run blast. And, after falling behind for a second time, it took one more home run to give the Cubs the win.
This time, it was Kyle Schwarber ready and waiting in the 8th inning, and he made sure that, unlike the two homers that preceded him, it didn’t just barely get out. It got WAY out:
.@kschwarb12 is not DH-ing tonight. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/SxN47J4Pvk
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 1, 2019
Take THAT, Dan Vogelbach!
We’ve talked about it before, though it feels like it’s been a while since he’s given us a reason, but man, is there anyone else who basically ONLY hits monster homers when he homers?
A well-struck baseball. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/OKW0GBZTn6
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 1, 2019
For Schwarber, that punctuated a reasonably warm stretch, during which he’s raised his season line from some seriously deep depths to .241/.308/.434, which is a 96 wRC+. Still a ways to go to be solidly above average, which is where he needs his bat to be, but trending quite well.
The only sadness I have from his big homer is that it didn’t count as a DH homer – he was swapped out late as the DH, changing places with Kris Bryant in left field – so he couldn’t tie this ridiculous mark:
Most Home Runs as a National League DH
(All-Time – regular season)10 Barry Bonds
10 Mike Piazza
9 KYLE SCHWARBER (playing DH tonight)
9 Matt Holliday
9 Jim Thome
8 Greg Vaughn— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 30, 2019