Avisail Garcia grand slam lifts Miami Marlins over Milwaukee Brewers
%20(1).JPG "Miami Marlins’ Avsail Garcia is congratulated after hitting a grand slam during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)")
Avisail Garcia was hunting the fastball all night. The Miami Marlins’ outfielder knew that would be the pitch where he could do damage, to make an impact, to have the potential to have a moment to celebrate in a season where celebrations were few and far between.
In the eighth inning, he got hold of that fastball.
He connected on Freddy Peralta’s 95.2 mph offering and watched as the ball soared through the air at American Family Field. The ball continued to carry up the middle of the field, until it beyond Tyrone Taylor’s leaping reach and beyond the ballpark’s center-field wall.
“I knew right away,” Garcia said.
Peralta tilted his head to the ground. Garcia pointed his right hand to the sky as began his trot around the bases, emphatically slapped third base coach Al Pedrique’s hand and celebrated with teammates waiting for him at home plate.
Garcia’s go-ahead grand slam — the first of his career in his first game back at his old ballpark in the first game off his latest injured list stint — lifted the Marlins to a 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday to begin a four-game series. Miami improves to 65-91 on the season. The Brewers are 83-73, a half-game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League’s third and final wild card spot.
Garcia, who played for the Brewers from 2020-2021, was 0 for 3 at the plate and misplayed a pair of balls in right field that contributed to the Brewers scoring both of their runs in the second inning before his game-changing home run.
But when he got one final opportunity to make an impact on the game, Garcia struck.
He stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs after Jordan Groshans hit a leadoff single to right, Jon Berti hit a one-out single to left and Brian Anderson walked on four pitches with two outs. Garcia fouled off the first pitch he saw, took a fastball out of the zone and whiffed on a near middle-middle fastball before connecting for the grand slam.
“Really nice for Avi,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s been a long year for him. He’s battled.”
The Marlins had debated whether to have Garcia return for the final week of the season. His first year with the club had been a trying one, with him first struggling as he put too much pressure on himself to live up to the expectations of his four-year, $56 million contract he signed in the offseason and then missing 46 games while dealing with a pair of hamstring injuries once he finally started to see success.
That’s not how Garcia wanted to go out, though.
Even if it was just one week at the end an disappointing season — for him individually and the Marlins as a whole — the outfielder knew he had something to prove and an opportunity to prove it.
“This past month that I was hurt,” Garcia said, “I did a lot of thinking about what I had to do to get better and to put myself in a better position to be healthy and contribute for the team. Right now, my mind’s in the right place. Just have to keep working hard and be positive.”
So Garcia did work behind the scenes. Physically, he dropped about 20 pounds. Mentally, he has attempted to put the “hard season” that he has had behind him and instead is focusing on what he can do in the immediate and in the future to turn things around.
“Be focused and be a professional,” Garcia said. “You’ve got to do a lot of things. You have to have your mind right and your body right. That’s the only way you’re going to improve.”
And Garcia knows he has to improve. On the season, he is hitting .230 batting average, a .591 on-base-plus-slugging mark and more strikeouts (103) than combined hits and walks (93).
There’s nothing Garcia can do about those numbers at this point. What he can do is find a way to make the most of the final six games and use the offseason to prepare for 2023 with a clean slate.
“It’s big,” Garcia said. “I’ve been working so hard for that. I want to finish the season strong and healthy. Next season is going to be interesting for us. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
More game recap
▪ Left-handed pitcher Braxton Garrett held the Brewers to two runs on six hits while striking out two over four innings. All the damage came in a 31-pitch second inning.
▪ Right-handed pitcher Bryan Hoeing, who was the Marlins’ first reliever of the night and was going to be used in a long-relief role, exited the game after facing just two batters when a Willy Adames comebacker hit him in the left calf. Jeff Brigham (1 1/3 innings), Tommy Nance (one inning), Jake Fishman (one inning) and Dylan Floro (one inning) took care of the rest of the pitching duties on Thursday.
This story was originally published September 29, 2022 at 10:49 PM.
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