The Boston Red Sox will be dealing with one of the hottest hitters in the National Leage when they open a three-game series against the visiting Washington Nationals on Monday.
Luis Garcia Jr. hit two home runs and drove in five runs Sunday to lead Washington to a 6-4 road victory over Baltimore. Garcia has homered in five of his last six games.
“I can’t describe it right now,” Garcia said through an interpreter after Sunday’s victory. “Everybody sees that my confidence is just at another level, and I think that’s something every batter wants to have.”
The first baseman has three multi-homer games this season.
“Super impressive,” Washington starting pitcher Zack Littell said of Garcia’s performance. “It gets hidden a little bit behind CJ (Abrams) and James (Wood), and that also makes him that much more dangerous (because) guys probably don’t put as much stock into facing him as they should.”
Friday night’s 3-1 loss to Baltimore extended Washington’s losing streak to four games, but the Nationals rebounded to defeat the Orioles on Saturday and Sunday.
Garcia is 10-for-19 (.526) with six home runs, nine RBIs, two doubles, three walks and eight runs scored in his last six games.
“He’s been unreal,” Washington manager Blake Butera said. “(Garcia’s) one of the longer-standing members of this team, and when he’s playing well like this, and he’s able to be a voice, especially with what we’ve gone through these last couple of weeks, (it) gives us a sense of calmness and confidence. It goes a long way.”
“These guys have been through a lot already in just half a season,” Butera continued. “To see the way they bounce back every single time, not getting caught up in the record and not riding the highs too much, and not riding the lows too much, this team exemplifies that extremely well. They just seem to be the same group every single day, no matter how well or how poorly they were playing.”
The Red Sox are coming off a four-game home sweep of the New York Yankees, and Sunday night’s 5-4 victory may have been Boston’s best win of the season. The Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the 10th after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the ninth and allowing New York to take a 4-2 lead in the 10th.
Jarren Duran provided the game-winning hit when his single drove in Masataka Yoshida to break a 4-4 tie.
“The Yankees are a great team and we knew it was going to be a dogfight to the end,” Duran said. “We just have to keep the same energy. We know it’s the Yankees and there’s always a bunch of energy, but we just have to make sure we carry that over and don’t let it die out.”
Monday’s pitching matchup will be Washington right-hander Miles Mikolas (2-6, 5.24 ERA) against Boston lefty Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.83).
Mikolas is 1-1 with a 6.59 ERA in three career starts against Boston. He allowed 17 hits in 13 2/3 innings. Suarez is 8-2 with a 3.98 ERA in 17 career games (10 starts) against Washington.
–Field Level Media
