Luis Garcia Jr., Alex Call and James Wood aim to continue their respective torrid hitting displays on Thursday afternoon when the host Washington Nationals play the Colorado Rockies in the rubber match of their three-game series.
Garcia belted a three-run homer to power Washington to a 6-1 victory on Wednesday. He has hit safely in 16 of his past 20 games, batting .375 (27-for-72) with eight extra-base hits (four doubles, four homers) in that stretch.
“We’ve told him all along that you can hit, (and) we know you can hit,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said. “But you gotta understand what you can hit, what balls you can hit.
“… What he’s doing offensively, it elevates his game defensively. It goes hand in hand. He’s got his head up, he’s ready to play and he passes the baton to his teammates. He’s doing really, really good all the way around.”
Call, who scored on Keibert Ruiz’s single in the third inning, is batting .359 (28-for-78) with three homers, 13 RBIs and eight runs in his past 21 games since being recalled on July 29.
Wood had a double and two singles on Wednesday, boosting his hit total to 12 over his past eight games.
Colorado right-hander Cal Quantrill will try to keep Garcia, Call and Wood under wraps when he takes the mound on Thursday. Quantrill has recorded 12 quality starts in his 24 outings this season.
Quantrill picked up the win in the Rockies’ 7-3 victory Friday over the San Diego Padres, but he yielded two homers for the second consecutive start. Quantrill overcame a no-pun-intended rocky start before settling down against the Padres.
“I made some bad pitches in the first and second, but I think we settled in pretty good after that,” Quantrill said.
“Kind of just mixed it up enough. I didn’t rely too heavily on the splitter or the fastball, which was a nice change of pace. Probably won’t be the best start ever, but we’ve talked about the importance of winning at home. That’s a team that’s really hot right now. We beat them, so overall, I think it’s a good day.”
Quantrill, 29, was taken deep once and allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings of a no-decision against Washington on June 22 in Denver. He is 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two career encounters versus the Nationals.
Washington left-hander Patrick Corbin (2-12, 5.92) will look to record career win No. 100 and snap a five-start winless skid on Thursday.
Corbin received his second straight no-decision despite yielding two runs in 4 1/3 innings against the host Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.
Corbin, 35, is 11-8 with a 4.72 ERA in 28 career appearances (27 starts) versus Colorado.
He will aim to keep Brendan Rodgers in check.
Rodgers is batting a robust .364 (24-for-66) with 11 RBIs and 12 runs this month. He joined Brenton Doyle in collecting a double and a single on Wednesday for the Rockies, who fell to 18-47 away from Coors Field.
–Field Level Media