PHOENIX -- Luis García Jr. set himself apart on a night when the Nationals hit five home runs in a lopsided 14-1 win over the D-backs.
The lefty-hitting García hit a two-run home run in the second at-bat of the game off a cutter from right-hander Merrill Kelly. In the sixth, he crushed his first career grand slam off a slider by left-hander Philip Abner.
“I felt good today,” said García. “I was feeling good at the plate, and I also was seeing the pitches well and I made good contact on the pitches.”
García became the first Nationals player to belt a grand slam and a non-grand slam homer in the same game since Matt Adams on June 16, 2019. García was in Double-A Harrisburg at that time, nearly seven years ago.
“I thought he did a really good job of getting pitches up in the zone, something that he could handle, and then swinging with some intent right there and looking to do damage,” said manager Blake Butera. “I think that's the biggest thing for Louie, is we know he has really good bat-to-ball skills, but we want him to be able to take some shots and swing at pitches where he can get one of his best swings off.”
This was García’s second multi-home run game of the season and the fifth of his career. This year, he slugged two homers on May 12 at the Reds. García’s six RBIs on Friday are the most runs driven in by a Nationals player this season. He improved his slugging percentage to .454.
García hit the Nationals’ fourth grand slam of the season. The feat was previously achieved by Brady House (April 29 at Mets), CJ Abrams (May 6 vs. Twins) and James Wood (May 19 vs. Mets).
“Everybody was fired up for him,” said Butera. “He's been putting in a ton of work. Happy to see the success he had tonight. It was huge for all of us, and obviously huge for him, too.”
Wood belted his 17th home run of the season in the third inning off Kelly. He hit the solo shot a Statcast-projected 419 feet at 105.9 mph, his third-farthest homer of 2026. Wood connected on a pitch 4.01 feet above the ground, the highest pitch hit for a homer by any player this season.
In the fifth inning, Daylen Lile went yard off Kelly.
The Nats didn’t just rely on the long ball. The entire lineup got involved, including batting around in the third. That inning, Jorbit Vivas broke an 0-for-25 skid with runners in scoring position with a two-run double.
The Nats improved to 25-10 when scoring first. The early lead helped starter Foster Griffin keep the D-backs at bay. The Nationals had so many at-bats each inning, in fact, that Griffin’s back tightened up a little waiting between frames. Butera wrapped up Griffin’s night after the fifth inning with a 7-1 lead out of precaution.
“We’re the ‘First Inning Nats,’ right?” said Griffin. “I feel like a lot of these outings I’ve taken the field, especially on the road, have been already a two, three-plus run cushion. So that’s just super relaxing for me and then allows me to go out there and attack the zone even more.”
After being swept by the Marlins at home this week, the Nationals began their two-city road trip to Phoenix and San Francisco with a commanding win.
“The offense has been doing an outstanding job,” said Butera. “Coming off a series where Miami threw the ball pretty well against us, of course, it was good to see us come out here after the day off and swing the bats the way we did.”