PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber still got on bass — guitar, that is — even as he sat out the last three games with a gastrointestinal illness.
Schwarber jammed at his fundraising block party this week with members of Mt. Joy and flashed his musical talent on a rendition of “Seven Nation Army.”
Schwarber's next smash hit should come in the Phillies' lineup.
The major league home run leader with 20, Schwarber was back at designated hitter and batting second in Friday's game against Cleveland.
Schwarber played in 225 straight games before he missed all three games this week against Cincinnati.
“I mean, I'm just never going to break Cal Ripken's record,” Schwarber said. “You take pride in being available on a daily basis. I think that's the biggest thing in our game, always try to make yourself available, being healthy."
The Reds took two of three and slowed the momentum of a Phillies team that had surged since interim manager Don Mattingly took over last month. The Phillies went from 9-19 to 25-23 before losing the last two games to the Reds.
“It's nice to have him back in the lineup and try and get our mix back together,” Mattingly said before Friday's game.
Schwarber said he had no restrictions in his return from the gastrointestinal illness against Cleveland right-hander Gavin Williams.
“It wasn't like I was out there and got the runs or anything like that,” Schwarber said with a laugh. “I've dealt with it before. This hasn't really happened in season before. I kind of knew what to expect.”
Schwarber hit nine home runs in his last 10 games. Schwarber reached 20 home runs in his 45th game and became the second-fastest Phillies player to 20 home runs in club history behind only Cy Williams, who did it in his 44th game in 1923.
“His timing is going to be off," Mattingly said. “He's going to get it back. In general, I think once we get to a certain period of the season, you've got enough at-bats under your belt, a couple days (off) doesn't really hurt you.”
One positive during his absence: Schwarber's block party raised $443,000 for first responders and their families at Union Transfer in Philadelphia.
He did enjoy taking the stage with his guitar.
“Hell yeah, got me back to like my high school days,” Schwarber said.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber celebrates his home run off of Colorado Rockies pitcher Chase Dollander during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Friday, May 8, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber gestures while rounding second base after hitting a solo home run in the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber is cheered in the dugout after hitting a solo home run in the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, finding that the Justice Department’s pursuit of criminal charges was designed to punish him for challenging his mistaken deportation to El Salvador last year.
The ruling amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of a Justice Department that under President Donald Trump has repeatedly been accused of targeting defendants for political purposes. The Trump administration touted the charges against Abrego Garcia last year at a press conference in which then-Attorney General Pam Bondi declared, “This is what American justice looks like.”
“The evidence before this court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power,” U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, in Nashville, Tenn., said in his ruling granting Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss for “selective or vindictive prosecution.” Without Abrego Garcia’s “successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the government would not have brought this prosecution."
Abrego Garcia’s deportation became an embarrassment for Trump officials when they were ordered to return him to the U.S. In his motion to dismiss, Abrego Garcia claimed that both the timing of the criminal charges and inflammatory statements about him by top Trump officials demonstrated that the prosecution was vindictive.
Despite the win in criminal court, his future in the United States is uncertain. Barred from deporting him to El Salvador, administration officials have threatened to deport him to a series of African countries, most recently Liberia.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department," his criminal defense attorneys said in a statement after Friday's ruling. "We are so pleased that he is a free man."
The Justice Department vowed to appeal, calling the judge’s order “wrong and dangerous.”
Crenshaw stopped short of finding the government acted with “actual vindictiveness,” a rarely-met standard that usually requires evidence like a prosecutor admitting that charges were filed in retaliation against someone. But the judge did find there was enough evidence of “presumptive vindictiveness” — including the timing of the indictment, statements made by then-U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the sustained oversight of the case by other top Justice Department officials — that the case against Abrego Garcia was thoroughly tainted.
The government’s own explanations weren’t convincing, Crenshaw wrote.
Abrego Garcia was charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling, with prosecutors claiming that he accepted money to transport within the United States people who were in the country illegally.
The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
In the Friday ruling, Crenshaw wrote that the timing of the charges was central to the presumption of vindictiveness. Homeland Security had been aware of the traffic stop for two years and had closed the case against Abrego Garcia when it deported him. Once the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he should be brought back to the U.S., they reopened the case. While the government bore the responsibility to rebut the presumption of vindictiveness, prosecutors did not call as a witness the person who reopened the case, to explain why. Instead they offered only “secondhand testimony.”
In a statement released by the group We are CASA, which has been supporting Abrego Garcia and his family, he thanked God for the dismissal of the criminal charges.
“Justice is a big word and an even bigger promise to fulfill; and I am grateful that today, justice has taken a step forward,” he said.
Abrego Garcia's deportation violated a 2019 immigration court order granting him protection from deportation to his home country, after the judge found he faced danger there from a gang that targeted his family. Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years although he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. The 2019 order allowed him to live and work in the U.S. under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision, but he was not given residency status.
FILE - Kilmar Abrego Garcia attends a rally in his honor at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore on Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife, center, hold hands as people rally in support of him at a news conference outside federal court after a hearing in his case on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Greenbelt, Md. (AP Photo/Michael Kunzelman)
