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May 15, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs (left) greets designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) returning to the dugout after hitting a two run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fifth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
No major league player has ever woken up on Lagwagon Day with 20 home runs to his name on the season…until tomorrow.
Kyle Schwarber continued his torrid power pace with two more homers to aid in the comeback victory as the Philadelphia Phillies (22-23) defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates (24-21) by a score of 11-9 in their weekend series opener.
After trailing most of the game, the Phillies brought seven men to the plate in the 10th inning and cemented their biggest win of the season.
Schwarber beat Albert Pujols record of 19 home runs by May 15th and also became the fourth fastest to 20 homers in his team’s first 45 games, behind ‘94 Ken Griffey, Jr., ‘06 Pujols, and ‘01 Barry Bonds. He was one game behind the franchise record set by Cy Williams in 44 games in 1923.
The Phillies came back from down six runs to take a game to extra innings for the second time in a week and finished the job this time after a heartbreaker against the Colorado Rockies last Friday night.
Aaron Nola agonized through the bottom of the third inning in which he allowed all six of his earned runs against on the night, allowing fives hit and a walk including two separate two-run homers to Brandon Lowe and Marcell Ozuna.
Clear the deck!
Brandon Lowe doubles the @Pirates lead with a 2-run homer pic.twitter.com/crlvsqEaad
— MLB (@MLB) May 15, 2026
The Phillies began to chip away in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Bryson Stott that scored Bryce Harper who reached on a single, the second of his four hits on the night.
In the top of the fifth, Pirates’ starter, Braxton Ashcraft, hit Garrett Stubbs with a pitch and Schwarber hit his 19th home run of the season to cut the Pirates’ lead in half.
Lowe hit his second home run of the game to lead off the bottom of the fifth against Tim Mayza to make it 7-3.
The Pirates would pad the lead again in the bottom of the sixth via a leadoff single by Spencer Horwitz, who stole second and came all the way around to score on a pair of errors by Stubbs and Alec Bohm.
Schwarber’s record-setting 20th dinger came against Pirates’ reliever, Mason Montgomery, in the top of the seventh, a two-run blast that cut the deficit to three.
Former Phillie, Gregory Soto, came in for the save opportunity in the top of the ninth. Edmundo Sosa reached base safely to lead off the inning on a bobble error by Pirates’ phenom, Konnor Griffin, and Soto walked Adolis Garcia and allowed a single to Turner to load the bases for Schwarber with one out. The Pirates clearly did not want Schwarber to beat them deep a third time and unintentionally walked in a run. Four pitches later, Harper tied the game with a two-RBI single (it was a double) off the wall.
Jose Alvarado held the line in the bottom of the ninth, allowing one hit and striking out three.
Brandon Marsh broke the tie with a leadoff double to score Bohm and Rafael Marchan doubled his season RBI total with a two-run single to blow it open.
Orion Kerkering recorded his first save of the season, allowing one walk and a run scored.
Cristopher Sanchez will try to get his squad back to .500 for the first time since April 13th when he faces off against Bubba Chandler in the middle game of the series tomorrow afternoon.
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