Does a Grand Slam Put Jaime Garcia in the Record Books?

Jaime Garcia’s Grand Slam Was Big

With trade talk constantly swirling around the Atlanta Braves and left handed pitcher Jaime Garcia, the last thing on everyone’s mind was that not only would the Braves beat the Dodgers easily, 12-3, Friday night, it was also that Garcia would be the one everyone was talking about.

Everyone talking about Garcia’s play from his bat and not his arm.  Garcia had not exactly been lighting it up from the mound lately, which was one of the main reasons the Braves have him on the trading block.

Before Friday night, Garcia had lost two of his last three starts and only compiled 18 strikeouts in the span.  The real kicker though was that Garcia was sitting with a 5.68 ERA over those three starts and had been mostly ineffective.

Then Friday night occurred, which maybe it was the west coast vibe that put lightning in Garcia’s bat.

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Plate Appearance Makes Night Memorable

How many of you reading this were alive in 1966?  More then not very likely.  Well, being that 1966 was the last time that a Braves pitcher hit a grand slam, those watching last night, or seeing replays online, experienced history.

Tony Cloninger was the last Braves pitcher to hit a grand slam.  But when he accomplished this feat on July 3, 1966, Cloninger hit two grand slams!  Before Friday night, the only other Braves pitchers to hit a grand slam were Patsy Flaherty in 1907, George Ferguson in 1910 and Lew Burdette in 1958.

Garcia became the fifth Braves pitcher to hit a grand slam when he took an 0-2 pitch off of Dodgers’ pitcher Alex Wood to give the Braves a 9-0 lead.

Being a very unlikely candidate to do so, as he is a career .149 hitter and had only hit two home runs prior in his career.

Next: Can this series vs the Dodgers fuel a playoff run?

Now with the surprise power, the Braves can use this as additional leverage when trying to trade Garcia.  Maybe even they can ‘pitch’ him as a hitter too when talking to teams.