Schwarber leaves after record homer

MLB HIGHLIGHTS

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The Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber hits his MLB-record 14th leadoff homer against Rays pitcher Taj Bradley during Tuesday night’s game. DERIK HAMILTON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Kyle Schwarber set an MLB record with his 14th leadoff homer of the season before leaving due to injury, and pinch-hitter Cal Stevenson smacked a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-4 on Tuesday night.

Trea Turner hit two, two-run homers and Bryce Harper added four hits as the Phillies (87-58) moved 29 games over .500, matching a season high.

Schwarber set the single-season leadoff homer record on the second pitch he saw from Taj Bradley, sending the ball 437 feet to center field for a 1-0 lead and moving past Alfonso Soriano, who had 13 leadoff homers with the New York Yankees in 2003. The Phillies’ DH left the game in the fourth inning due to left elbow discomfort after reaching on a walk in the third and appearing to get hurt diving back into first base on a pickoff try.

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

Royals 5, Yankees 0 >> Seth Lugo (16-8) struck out 10 in seven masterful innings and Salvador Perez hit two run-scoring singles to reach 100 RBIs for the second time as Kansas City beat New York.

Tommy Pham homered and Bobby Witt Jr. had an RBI single for the Royals, who trail first-place Cleveland by 3 1/2 games in the AL Central. They hold a 2 1/2-game edge over Minnesota for the second AL wild card.

New York is now a half-game ahead of second-place Baltimore atop the AL East.

Pirates 6, Marlins 4 >> Andrew McCutchen hit a three-run blast to reach the 20-homer plateau for the 10th time in his career and Pittsburgh beat Miami.

McCutchen has had eight of his 20-homer seasons with Pittsburgh, the second-most in franchise history behind Hall of Famer Willie Stargell.

Braves 12, Nationals 0 >> Michael Harris II hit two of Atlanta’s four home runs in a rout of Washington, despite losing starter Reynaldo López to a right shoulder injury after one inning.

Tigers 11, Rockies 0 >> Rookie Keider Montero pitched Detroit’s first shutout in three seasons in defeating Colorado.

Montero (5-6) became the first Tigers pitcher with nine shutout innings since Spencer Turnbull’s no-hitter in Seattle on May 18, 2021.