DENVER -- Kyle Schwarber reached the 300-homer plateau in fitting fashion on Monday night, smashing a majestic 466-foot shot off the facade of the upper deck at Coors Field.
Schwarber's milestone homer was not only his longest since 2023, but it helped put the finishing touches on the Phillies' late-game eruption on their way to a 9-3 victory over the Rockies. It was also the third-longest in MLB this season, behind only Mike Trout (484 feet) and Aaron Judge (468 feet).
Schwarber became the 11th active player to reach the 300-homer mark, and he’s the sixth to hit No. 300 in a Phillies uniform, joining Bryce Harper, Ryan Howard, Mike Schmidt, Roy Sievers and Chuck Klein.
"It's a cool milestone," Schwarber said. "I think the biggest thing is there's a lot more to come. If they asked 12-year-old Kyle if he'd hit 300 homers, I would have said, 'Probably not.' Right? But I've always loved the game and I didn't know what it would hold, but it's been really gracious to me."
With No. 300 now in the rearview mirror despite 12-year-old Kyle's doubts, how does 32-year-old Kyle feel about the prospects about hitting 400 -- or even 500?
"I mean, I don't know?" Schwarber said. "I was just making the joke that I've got [to hit] 200 more, then I can quit."
Sure, 500 is still a long ways off, but Schwarber is showing no signs of slowing down. Quite the opposite, in fact. He averaged 44 home runs per season from 2022-24.
With 16 homers through 47 games, he's on pace for 55 this season. Those 16 home runs were temporarily tied for the MLB lead until Shohei Ohtani hit his 17th -- a fact Nick Castellanos generously (and jokingly) yelled to Schwarber across the visitors' clubhouse as the Phillies addressed the media postgame.
"There's a lot of things that have got to go right," Schwarber said. "So I don't really think about that. I just live day to day with these guys, and obviously, I want to go win a championship here."
It's no secret that winning a World Series is the ultimate goal for the Phillies after coming up short the past few seasons. Still, milestones like Schwarber's -- and Harper hitting No. 300 in 2023 -- are special moments within the clubhouse.
"It doesn't happen as much any more -- the milestones that these guys are reaching, Bryce and him," shortstop Trea Turner said. "You try to soak it in even when you're watching it. You kind of wish you were that guy, but at the same time, you can live through them, and just to share that moment with them is pretty cool."
Turner nearly had a chance for a milestone of his own Monday night. Needing only a home run to complete the cycle, Turner -- who has been open about his quest to become the first player with four cycles -- was stranded in the on-deck circle as Brandon Marsh grounded out for the final out of the ninth inning.
"I was telling everybody to get me up there, and I think I put a little too much pressure on Marshy -- he kind of crumbled," Turner joked. " ... But yeah, I was hoping to get up there, but it's all right."
Though he didn't get that last opportunity, Turner praised the Phillies' late-game surge. They plated seven of their nine runs and collected more than half of their 17 hits in the final two frames.
Alec Bohm hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth. Turner added on with a two-run double to complete a four-run frame. Edmundo Sosa followed Schwarber's homer with a two-run blast of his own in the ninth, finishing off a four-hit night.
"When these guys do special things at the big league level, it really makes me feel good," manager Rob Thomson said. "I know how hard it is to play this game, and to reach those types of milestones is just -- it's awesome."
Schwarber was able to get the ball back from the fan who eventually corralled it -- Gabriel DelRazo, who said he'd gotten into baseball within the past year. DelRazo now has a signed bat from Schwarber, which he traded for the milestone ball.
"It'll be a keepsake here, for sure," Schwarber said. "Get back home, get that thing boxed up and put it on the wall.
"I don't really have the setup yet, so I'm looking forward to, one day, kind of just really finding that one place for all the cool things that happen throughout your career and put them all there."
Maybe a No. 500 home run ball will be the centerpiece.