Luis Garcia Jr. has been treating pitchers like target practice lately, and the Washington Nationals will hand him another chance to stay hot when they open a three-game home set against the Houston Astros on Monday.
The 26-year-old first baseman is riding a blistering stretch, with nine homers in his last 12 games and 16 since May 25. He also sits second in the National League with 64 RBIs, though Washington is still only one game above .500 after dropping two of three at home to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Garcia added to the damage on Sunday, launching a two-run homer in an 11-5 loss that gave him a career-high 19 home runs. He said the surge has come from a tweak to his swing.
"We found something special about my swing that we have right now and just trying to put the ball up in the air," Garcia said after Friday's 9-5 win in which he went deep twice against Pittsburgh. "That's probably the success that we've seen the last couple of months."
Washington also got a look at rookie reliever Eddy Yean on Sunday, and the debut came quickly. Manager Blake Butera moved him into the mix right away after the club took outfielder Robert Hassell III off the roster and designated him for assignment.
Yean, a native of the Dominican Republic, entered in the third inning and worked two scoreless frames in his first major league outing, allowing one walk and striking out three.
"It has been really good, the strike throwing," Butera said. "It's a good fastball, it's a sinker profile, good velocity, 96-97 mph.
He's had a lot of success this year in Triple-A. Also, (he's) just a really good person.
I'm sure you saw the big smile. He's excited to be here.
His teammates love him, everybody in the organization loves him."
Yean was sent back to Triple-A Rochester after the game.
Houston arrives with momentum of its own. The Astros have taken six of their last seven, and on Sunday their pitching staff made a 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays stand up behind a four-hit shutout. Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes supplied the only offense with solo home runs, while Peter Lambert teamed with Steven Okert, Bryan King and Josh Hader to finish the job.
Lambert said the bullpen gives him plenty of confidence once he exits.
"They've been nails all year," Lambert said.
The bigger headline in Houston remains Yordan Alvarez. The four-time All-Star is running the table in the majors in RBIs with 67, on-base percentage at .429, slugging percentage at .637, OPS at 1.065 and total bases with 207. He also leads the American League in hits with 104 and home runs with 29, while batting .320 to pace the Astros.
Alvarez was voted the American League designated hitter for the July 14 All-Star Game, and manager Joe Espada did not hold back when talking about him.
"You can make an argument that, in my opinion, he's the best hitter in the major leagues," Espada said. "But I think we should also recognize who he is as an individual. I think that makes it more special for me to come here every day and watch him play."
Houston is expected to start Mike Burrows, who is 4-8 with a 5.58 ERA. He picked up his first win of June in a 6-4 home victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, giving up four runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts across five innings.
Burrows has one career start against Washington. In that outing, he did not factor into the decision and allowed three runs on five hits while walking one and striking out six over 4 1/3 innings in September 2025 as a member of the Pirates.
After a bullpen appearance on June 19, Burrows returned to the rotation and has since thrown six innings and five innings in his last two starts.
The Nationals are slated to send Miles Mikolas to the mound. He is 2-7 with a 5.44 ERA and last pitched Monday in a 6-3 road loss to the Boston Red Sox, when he gave up six runs on nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts over seven innings.
That outing was his first start since May 12. Mikolas is pitching while appealing a five-game suspension that came after Tuesday's bench-clearing incident against the Red Sox.
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