WASHINGTON -- The St. Louis Cardinals made it clear to Greg Garcia when he got in after a five-hour flight from Salt Lake City two days ago: He was here to be Matt Carpenter's babysitter, nothing more.
Garcia would take care of Carpenter’s third-base position for 48 hours so the All-Star third baseman could be with his wife and newborn daughter back in St. Louis. Garcia came to Nationals Park on Friday afternoon with his bags packed, figuring he would get a ticket to Las Vegas, the next stop for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, when Carpenter returned from the paternity list Saturday.
But a funny thing happened. Nobody had handed Garcia that ticket by late in the evening Friday. By playing as if today was all he had, Garcia may have guaranteed himself a tomorrow.
“We’ll see what happens,” Garcia said hopefully.
Ruben Tejada was the one in discussions with Cardinals traveling secretary C.J. Cherre after Friday night’s 6-2 Cardinals win over the Washington Nationals, which could portend that he is the one headed out rather than Garcia. It’s a far bigger hassle for general manager John Mozeliak, since Tejada, on a guaranteed $1.5 million deal, would have to be designated for assignment.
That’s how impressive Garcia was pestering Max Scherzer with two walks, homering and making a series of dazzling plays at third base.
Garcia got optioned earlier this year when he was batting .600, so he must have figured he had to improve on that. Now he’s batting .615. Believing he was headed back to the minor leagues, Garcia said he relaxed and played more freely. Now, he’s yet another example of a no-name player arriving from the minor leagues and making key contributions for the Cardinals.
“You want to establish yourself, right? There’s a lot of pressure on that,” Garcia said. “You put a lot of pressure on yourself as a young player. You want to prove to the guy next to you that you belong up here and to yourself, too. I was able to have success playing in that kind of pressure, but it’s nice to just kind of play this game just like it was a backyard game.”
The Cardinals’ infield has had difficulty supporting a starting rotation that has been the team’s biggest deficiency this season. Garcia made three strong plays, including a diving stop to begin a key double play in the sixth inning, allowing Jaime Garcia (no relation) to give the Cardinals seven stout innings.
He also walked amid the Cardinals’ five-run third inning, which was punctuated by Stephen Piscotty's grand slam off Scherzer.
“What felled us was not only that one inning, but the third baseman Garcia made some tremendous plays,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker told reporters. “That saved a couple of runs.”
Good defense and good pitching are typically intertwined, particularly when the pitchers in question get as many ground balls as the Cardinals do. Jaime Garcia had a good sinker and got bushels of them, 11 of them becoming outs, including two double plays. That helped Garcia aid a cause Mike Leake had started the night before: bullpen relief. Both pitchers managed to go seven innings, giving a bullpen that huffed and puffed through the last homestand some down time.
He also managed to keep from getting ejected after plate umpire Alan Porter issued warnings in the fifth inning when a fastball sailed up and in near Ben Revere's head. Garcia had hit Daniel Murphy high on the right shoulder an inning before. He insisted there was no intent behind those pitches, just the result of balls slipping from his hand on a muggy night.
“They didn’t like it, which I understand,” Garcia said. “I apologize for that fact, but at the same time, you have to move on and try to make your pitches.”