After three demoralizing games in a row against the Phillies, it was back to business for the Washington Nationals. They grinded out yet another road series win, this time against the Orioles. Luis Garcia Jr. is the hottest hitter in all of baseball right now, and he carried the offense in this one.
As mentioned, PJ Poulin also had a gutsy six out save to close this one out. After Mitchell Parker made things interesting in the 7th, Poulin came into the ball game. While Poulin does not throw hard, he kept Orioles hitters off balance with his deceptive delivery. He did a nice job keeping the ball off the barrel, something that has been a struggle for Nats relievers.
Poulin is not the most efficient pitcher ever, and tends to fall behind in counts, so it was certainly a stressful watch. However, the southpaw buckled down and got a game-ending double play after he walked a hitter. Nats fans were finally able to exhale, and the team was back over .500.
While Poulin got some huge outs, the MVP of this contest was undoubtedly Luis Garcia Jr., who is as hot as a hitter can get in this game. In his last 7 games, Garcia has a mind numbing 1.804 OPS with six home runs and a .435 average. His swing just looks so good right now, even the pitches he is fouling off. Garcia’s bat drop on his first homer was so sweet as well.
That homer gave the Nats a 5-2 lead. Garcia drove in five of the Nats six runs in this contest. Before the season, there were valid questions about whether Garcia could slug enough to be a valuable first baseman. Right now, he is answering those in a big way. For the season, Garcia now has an .850 OPS and a .543 slugging percentage. That slugging percentage is 7th in baseball, ahead of Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.
With James Wood and CJ Abrams being relatively cold in June, the Nats needed someone to step up and carry the load. Luis Garcia Jr. has been the guy to do that, and he is a real contender for NL player of the month. He should be a lock for NL player of the week.
At this rate, Garcia might break his career high in homers before the start of July. Right now, he is up to 16 home runs on the season, and the most he has in a campaign is 18. This is easily the best Garcia Jr. has ever played, and it has come when the Nats needed him most.
On his second home run, it did not feel like he got all of it, but the ball just snuck over the wall. The umps could not tell right away that it was a homer, but after a quick review, they gave the home run signal and the Nats first baseman rounded the bases.
Blake Butera has talked so much about how resilient his team is that it almost feels old. However, he is 100% right about his team’s ability to get off the mat. With the bullpen meltdowns against the Phillies, and a losing streak up to 4 games, this could easily have spiraled out of control. This team pushed through, and won yet another series. Next up is a trip to Paul Toboni’s old stomping grounds in Boston for what should be a fun matchup.