Cards' Garcia gets a little help on big night
It may seem like Jose Adolis Garcia caught a lucky break Monday night when his third-inning home run ricocheted off an outfielder's glove and over the wall.But the way his manager sees it, everything turned out about even.
It may seem like Jose Adolis Garcia caught a lucky break Monday night when his third-inning home run ricocheted off an outfielder's glove and over the wall.
But the way his manager sees it, everything turned out about even.
"That's 390-something feet away, and the wind was blowing across the field. It knocked one or two down for them, and for us, it knocked a few down. On a normal day, there's no doubt that's a home run," Double-A Springfield skipper Johnny Rodriguez said. "The outfielder [Johan Mieses] made a good play actually. He just went up and it [hit his glove and] went over. But other times tonight, the wind knocked some down, so with that one, it worked out."
Garcia went yard again for his second two-homer game in affiliated ball and finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored in the Cardinals' 8-0 win over the visiting Tulsa Drillers.
The wind-cursed but glove-blessed long ball came on a 2-2 count against Dodgers right-hander Josh Sborz. Garcia's swing sent center fielder Mieses racing back and toward left. He quickly covered a lot of ground, but things might have gone better for the Drillers had he made a less impressive run.
"Mieses jumps up and his glove is almost at the top of the wall. It bounces out of the glove and goes over," Rodriguez said. "He jumps right at the wall, and if he doesn't have his glove at the top of the wall, it might have hit the top and gone over anyway. But when he goes up, right at the height of the wall, that makes it go over."
That was the 14th jack of the year for Garcia, a 24-year-old native of Cuba and the brother of Atlanta prospect Adonis García. The younger Garcia signed with St. Louis in February after spending last summer with Japan's Yomiuri Giants and their farm team. In 117 games between Springfield and Triple-A Memphis, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound outfielder is batting .300/.351/.495 with 33 doubles, two triples and 64 RBIs.
Gameday box score
"He can run, he can throw, he can field. He's going to develop power -- to keep going with it. He's a little raw in general. He's still learning the game, but the more he plays, the better he's going to be. The Cardinals have got something with him," Rodriguez said.
"He's been getting a lot of clutch hits, on the road, at home, everywhere. After he left Triple-A, he came back [on Aug. 10] real focused. You would think he would feel bad, but he's just been focused, and he's been on fire. He might go 1-for-5, but that one hit is going to make a huge impact on the game in the right moment -- lots of clutch hits."
The right-handed hitter's 15th homer came in the seventh, an opposite-field two-run shot off Shea Spitzbarth that needed no help. It was his second knock of the game to right -- he also singled during a five-run first.
"He tries to pull [inside pitches], but he can go the other way," Rodriguez said. "The home run to right field was on a breaking ball. They went up the ladder on him and threw a breaking ball, and he's a mistake hitter."
That tater capped the scoring and gave the Cardinals a 2-1 series win and a one-game lead over the second-place Drillers in the Texas League North Division with seven games to play -- the final three at Tulsa. But Garcia's two-dinger day was not the first time during the three-game set that he impressed Rodriguez, who has more than 30 years' experience coaching in pro ball.
Playing right field in the series opener Saturday night, Garcia fielded Garrett Kennedy's scorcher up the line with two outs in the ninth inning and the Cards leading, 8-3.
"He threw the strongest throw I've seen an outfielder make, [except for] maybe Jesse Barfield when I was with the Yankees. I said, 'OK, it's gonna bounce,' but it kept going on a line all the way to second base," Rodriguez said. "Then when the shortstop [Tommy Edman] caught it, it almost knocked him back. I saw his glove go back. I said, 'That didn't just happen.' It did not want to stop going. If the shortstop wasn't there, the ball would go all the way to the other side of town."
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Pedro Echemendia (2-4) scattered four hits and struck out five over six innings, while St. Louis No. 9 prospectSandy Alcantara fanned two and worked around a hit in an inning of relief for Springfield.
Josh Jackson is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow and interact with him on Twitter, @JoshJacksonMiLB.
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