Garcia stepping up in more prominent bullpen role

ST. LOUIS – When the bottom of the eighth arrived Friday night at Busch Stadium, the Nationals and Cardinals knotted at 6-6, the visitors bullpen door swung open and Davey Martinez’s top setup man emerged: Robert Garcia.

This was the spot that had been reserved all season for Hunter Harvey, but the hard-throwing right-hander was dealt to the Royals just before the All-Star break. Martinez could have stuck with another righty, probably Dylan Floro or Derek Law, but he chose to use those veterans in the sixth and seventh.

So the assignment went to Garcia, the 28-year-old lefty with only 70 games of big league experience, even though only one of the three Cardinals due up bat left-handed. No problem, because Garcia promptly retired the side, striking out both right-handers to keep the game tied and ultimately set the Nationals up to win 10-8 in 10 innings.

“It’s something that I’ve worked towards, and it feels good that I’ve been given the opportunity to be put in that role,” he said. “It’s somewhere I see myself. I think I have very good stuff and have the ability to be in the later innings and take over that role.”

That’s the bet the Nats are making as they adjust bullpen roles on the fly. Harvey is now in Kansas City, Floro is a strong candidate to be traded as well before Tuesday’s deadline and Finnegan also could be had if any contender is willing to meet Mike Rizzo’s high asking price.

Garcia spent most of the season as the team’s lone lefty reliever, which forced Martinez to use him against specific parts of the opposing lineup, usually earlier in the game after a starter got knocked out. But Jose A. Ferrer’s return from the 60-day injured list finally gave the team two southpaws, and that has freed Martinez up to use Garcia in situations of more consequence later in games.

“He uses both sides of the plate really well. He’s got a really changeup,” the manager said. “The biggest thing with him is pounding the strike zone. When he’s able to … throw strikes with both pitches, he’s going to be really effective. And he’s done that.”

Garcia’s mid-90s fastball is his bread-and-butter pitch, and he uses a mid-80s slider against left-handed hitters. But the high-80s changeup is his best pitch, the one that he has used effectively to get right-handed hitters to chase as it breaks down and away from them.

That’s exactly what Garcia did Friday night, striking out both Dylan Carlson and Pedro Pagés with beautifully located changeups to close out the bottom of the eighth. It was yet another example of his ability to break the stereotype of the traditional matchup lefty.

“That’s the big thing. As a lefty, sometimes people will view you only as a left-on-left guy,” he said. “And I feel like for me, that’s not how my stuff works. I have really good stuff. I’m confident in myself on both sides of the plate. My best pitch is my changeup. So when righties are in the box, I feel just as comfortable as if there’s a lefty up there. That’s where I want to be in my career.”

Garcia enters tonight’s game with a pedestrian 4.17 ERA and 1.200 WHIP in 45 games, but his peripheral stats suggest he’s been much better than that. He strikes out 12.5 batters per nine innings, the highest rate on the staff. He walks only 2.9 per nine innings, same as Finnegan. His Fielding Independent Pitching is a sparkling 2.41, suggesting he’s been the victim of bad luck at times.

And Garcia has been getting better as the season progresses: He's been scored upon in only one of his last 16 outings, striking out 23 while walking only four.

All of this explains why Martinez now views Garcia as a viable late-inning reliever. Plus another reason that has nothing to do with stats.

“A lot has to do with his confidence,” Martinez said. “He’s got unbelievable confidence going into games now, and that’s good for him. It’s something he learned about himself. We always believed in him. Now he’s got to believe in himself.”