Kyle Schwarber’s MLB-leading 18th homer lifts Phillies past Red Sox 3-1

BOSTON (AP) — Kyle Schwarber hit his major league-leading 18th home run, a two-run shot that broke a scoreless tie in the eighth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-1 on Thursday night.

Schwarber has seven homers in his last seven games, the first Phillies player to hit at least that many in a similar span since current teammate Trea Turner in 2023. Schwarber's towering shot in this one cleared the visiting bullpen in right field and traveled an estimated 417 feet.

Bryson Stott added an insurance run later in the eighth on an infield hit on which he was initially called out, but it was overturned after the Phillies challenged.

Brad Keller (2-1) struck out two in one relief inning for the win and Jhoan Duran fanned the side in the ninth for his seventh save.

Wilyer Abreu’s RBI single in the eighth accounted for Boston’s lone run. The Red Sox wrapped up a homestand during which they dropped two of three in series against Tampa Bay and Philadelphia.

Boston reliever Tyler Samaniego (0-1) hadn’t allowed a homer in his first 13 career MLB games, spanning 15 innings, before getting taken deep by Schwarber, who also struck out three times.

Neither starter factored in the decision. Boston’s Ranger Suarez went 5 1/3 scoreless innings and struck out eight, while Philadelphia’s Jesus Luzardo fanned four in six scoreless innings. In his previous start, Luzardo was tagged for six runs in just three innings.

The start of the game was delayed by 22 minutes because of rain.

Phillies: Travel to Pittsburgh for a three-game series that begins Friday night. Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (2-3, 5.14) is scheduled to oppose Pirates RHP Braxton Ashcraft (2-2, 2.77).

Red Sox: Open a three-game series in Atlanta on Friday with LHP Connelly Early (3-2, 3.16) facing Braves RHP Spencer Strider (1-0, 2.89).

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Boston Red Sox's Jarren Duran strikes out to end the baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Red Sox's Masataka Yoshida draws a walk during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber (12) celebrates with pitcher Jhoan Duran after defeating the Boston Red Sox following a baseball game, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber (12) is congratulated by Adolis García after his two-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber celebrates while rounding the bases on his two-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A man who experts for both prosecutors and defense attorneys had said was intellectually disabled became the 600th person executed in Texas since 1982, put to death Thursday evening for the killing of a 77-year-old retired college professor.

Edward Busby Jr. was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay over his disabilities claims. The execution capped a series of last-minute legal efforts by Busby's attorneys seeking to spare his life.

Busby was condemned for the suffocation death of Laura Lee Crane, a retired professor from Texas Christian University. Prosecutors said she was abducted from a grocery store parking lot in January 2004 and left to suffocate in the trunk of her car with duct tape wrapped heavily around her face, covering her mouth and nose.

The execution was the 600th in Texas since it resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. Busby also was the fourth person executed this year in Texas and the 12th nationwide. Earlier Thursday, Oklahoma executed Raymond Johnson for killing his ex-girlfriend and her 7-month-old daughter nearly 20 years ago.

When asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Busby repeatedly apologized and asked for forgiveness.

“I am so sorry for what happened,” he said while strapped to the death chamber gurney. “Miss Crane was a lovely woman. I never meant anything bad to happen to her.” He said he wished he could “take it all back” and added he had “no right to get in that car.”

“I’ll take the blame if that helps."

He said he had surrendered his life to God and urged a sister, who was praying and watching through a window a short distance away, to find a church and “pick up your cross.”

"I’m here because this is the will of God,” he said before the injection got underway.

As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing, he took a sharp breath, closed his eyes and gasped. Then he made snoring sounds that got progressively quieter. Within 40 seconds, all movement and sounds ceased. He was pronounced dead 38 minutes afterward.

Busby’s execution had been in doubt after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week issued a stay of execution to further review his claims of intellectual disability. But the Supreme Court overturned the stay Thursday at the request of the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The attorney general’s office had argued that similar appeals were previously rejected and were “meritless” and based on “conflicting evidence.”

Busby’s lawyers quickly sought another stay but it was denied by a lower court.

The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities.

Busby's attorneys had argued against putting him to death because a defense expert as well as one hired by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, both found he was intellectually disabled.

The district attorney’s office had previously recommended Busby’s sentence be reduced to life in prison. But the trial judge in Busby’s case disagreed with the findings of intellectual disability and in 2023 upheld the death sentence.

In a statement Wednesday, the district attorney's office said it requested Thursday's execution date because it believed that under current law Busy was not intellectually disabled.

Two other prior execution dates for Busby had been delayed by courts.

Prosecutors have said Busby and his co-defendant, Kathleen Latimer, abducted Crane in her car from a Fort Worth grocery store parking lot and later put in her vehicle’s trunk as they drove around. Prosecutors said she died in the trunk after suffocating from having 23 feet (7 meters) of duct tape wrapped over her entire face.

Busby was subsequently arrested in Oklahoma City driving Crane’s car and led authorities to her body in Oklahoma just north of the state line with Texas.

Latimer is in prison serving a life sentence for murder.

Bryan Mark Rigg, an author and historian who represented the Crane family as a witness to the execution, said they “neither support or oppose the death penalty. However, they are united in their respect for the rule of law.”

Rigg said as a child he was a student of Crane, who for decades helped children overcome learning disabilities and “was discarded in a field like a piece of trash.” He said the execution was not about vengeance but “accountability under the law and about remembering the life of an extraordinary educator.”

Lozano reported from Houston. Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

FILE - Edward Busby Jr., left, confers with attorney Steve Gordon on the second day of his capital murder trial, Nov. 10, 2005, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Rodger Mallison/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool, File)