Luis Garcia Jr. leads an offensive outburst as Nationals inch closer to .500

CINCINNATI — Luis Garcia Jr. had endured enough.

The Nationals first baseman said he had been playing with an injured right wrist since April, but in last week’s series finale against the Brewers, the pain became untenable. He exited the game to get it checked out.

The MRI revealed a minor sprain, and letting the injury heal would be best for Garcia. He sat until Friday’s win against the Marlins, when he had one pinch-hit appearance.

On Saturday, Garcia took part in batting practice, and manager Blake Butera said that it was “probably the best BP I’ve ever seen him take.”

The sprain sapped Garcia’s power, and his production was plummeting. Before his days off to rest the wrist, Garcia was batting .234 with a .595 OPS.

Since returning, Garcia has been on a tear, and his torrid pace continued in Tuesday’s 10-4 win over the Reds at Great American Ballpark. The 25-year-old is now 8-for-14 with five RBIs over his last three games.

“You can see [hitting is] really contagious,” Garcia said through a team interpreter. “We’ve had other games where when everybody’s hitting, everybody starts making contact.”

In the third inning, James Wood and Garcia slugged back-to-back homers to give the Nationals (20-22) a 2-0 lead. Daylen Lile added another solo homer in the fourth, but Washington hitters would have to stay on the attack.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Reds (22-20) loaded the bases and scored a run after Matt McLain grounded into a force out. Right-hander Miles Mikolas walked Will Benson to load the bases again before being replaced by Brad Lord. Cincinnati scored another run after Brady House wasn’t able to field a routine ground ball that cut the lead to 3-2, but Lord induced an inning-ending double play to limit the damage.

Garcia extended the lead when he got all of a first-pitch sweeper for a solo homer to open the fifth. Then, after House walked, CJ Abrams singled and Jacob Young grounded into a force out to put runners on first and third, Lile cleared the bases with a three-run shot to give the Nationals a 7-2 lead.

Lile, who is from nearby Louisville and had around 80 people in attendance, and Garcia became the sixth pair of Nationals to have multi-homer games in the same game, and the first since 2019 when Brian Dozier and Juan Soto accomplished the feat.

The scoring continued in the eighth when House hit a two-run homer to extend the lead to 9-2, and José Tena recorded an RBI double in the ninth for the decisive score. Eight of the nine position players recorded at least one hit Tuesday night.

After a quiet spell to end April and begin May, the Nationals’ offense is showing that it can be a driving force for the team, even as the pitching staff remains inconsistent and the defense shaky. The Nationals entered Tuesday third in total runs scored in the majors (217).

Garcia’s recent surge lengthens a Nationals lineup that has been light on consistent production outside of Abrams and Wood.

“It goes a really long way when just a lineup lengthens out like that,” Butera said. “When you’re getting two home runs from Luis, two home runs from Daylen, José Tena’s swinging the bat well in the eight spot. Our lineup’s very deep when those guys are contributing outside of CJ or Woody.”

Butera added that with teams focused on Wood and Abrams, getting contributions from House, Tena and Garcia makes it more challenging for an opposing pitching staff.

Garcia said postgame that there’s still some discomfort in his wrist, and that he’ll have to monitor it. But even 90% of Garcia is a boost — he slugged 18 homers in 2025 and 16 in 2026.

He’s just pleased to be back contributing like he has over the past three games.

“He’s smiling because he’s feeling good again,” Butera said. “It’s good to see his wrist feeling better, and hopefully those few days off helped him. The way he’s swinging with that right now is pretty fun to watch.”