Kyle Schwarber homered three times and tied a major league record with five in a two-game span, leading the Washington Nationals over the New York Mets 5-2 Sunday to take three of four in the series.
Schwarber set a Nationals/Montreal Expos record by homering nine times in a 10-game span, increasing his total to 18 this season with his first career three homer-game. Moved in the leadoff spot on June 12, Schwarber had four RBI for the second straight game.
He hit a 2-0 fastball from Taijuan Walker(6-3) for his fourth leadoff home run this season, capped an eight-pitch at-bat starting the fifth by homering on a sinker for a 3-1 lead, then hit an 0-1 slider from Jeurys Familia for a two-run homer into the Mets' bullpen in left field in the seventh.
Schwarber had the sixth three-homer game since the franchise moved to Washington for the 2005 season, the first since Anthony Rendon's 10-RBI game against the Mets on April 30, 2017.
Schwarber's third homer followed a pinch-hit double by Gerardo Parra, a 34-year-old fan favorite who returned to the Nationals on Sunday when his contract was selected from Triple-A Rochester. Parra's walkup music of the children's song "Baby Shark" became a theme of the Nationals' run to the 2019 World Series title, and it sounded before his at-bat to the crowd's delight.
Parra spent last season with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, then signed a minor league contract with the Nationals last winter.
Patrick Corbin (5-5) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and a walk. He retired 15 of 16 batters on 76 pitches through six innings.
Pete Alonso homered leading off the seventh. ending a 38 at-bat homerless stretch with his 11th this season. Alonso reached 80 home runs in 274 games, third-fewest behind Ryan Howard (245) and Aaron Judge(264).
A shifted third baseman Starlin Castro snagged pinch-hitter Dominic Smith's smash up the middle off Kyle Finnegan for a double play in the seventh.
New York scored just nine runs in the four-game series. Despite going 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position, Washington closed within five games of the NL East-leading Mets.
Walker, who had allowed just two prior homers this season, dropped to 2/3 on the road to go along with a 4-0 mark record. He allowed four runs and a season-high 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Kevin Pillar's sixth homer tied the score in the second, and Josh Bell hit a go-ahead single in the third.
The Mets start off a new series with the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field on Monday with a makeup doubleheader at 5:10 p.m. RHP Jacob deGrom (6-2, 0.54) is expected to start one of the games of the doubleheader, New York's second twin bill in three days.
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 20: Kyle Schwarber #12 of the Washington Nationals rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the New York Mets during the fifth inning at Nationals Park on June 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Ima