July 26, 2022: Luis García’s ‘called shot’ home run secures Davey Martinez’s 300th win

The 53,302 fans at Dodger Stadium for Clayton Kershaw Bobblehead Night1 in July 2022 were treated to a cute opening act – the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers ace’s oldest three kids threw first “pitches” to their dad before the Dodgers-Washington Nationals game. (The 40,000 bobbleheads were apparently a big draw since the crowd exceeded the Opening Day attendance of 52,995.)

Once the Tuesday night game got underway, the fans saw a matchup of young starting pitchers, both rookies in the previous season.2 Dodgers right-hander Mitch White (1-2, 3.78 ERA) was looking for his first career win as a starter.3 Nationals righty Josiah Gray (7-6, 4.40 ERA) hoped to continue his success on the road. The 24-year-old Gray had a 2-6 record and 6.70 ERA at home, but he was 5-0 with a 2.14 ERA in eight road starts.4

Gray, along with his batterymate Keibert Ruiz, had come to the Nationals at the July 2021 trade deadline in a deal that sent pitcher Max Scherzer and shortstop Trea Turner to Los Angeles.5 He had faced the Dodgers earlier in 2022 at Nationals Park, giving up seven runs in three innings and later admitting that he let his emotions get ahead of him against his former club.6

The teams were approaching the second game of this three-game series from very different perspectives. Entering the series, the Nationals (32-65) had lost 17 of their last 20 games and were last in the National League East with the majors’ lowest winning percentage (.330). A 4-1 win in the series opener on July 25 – fifth-year manager Davey Martinez’s 299th career win – had given the Nationals two wins in a row, and a third straight win would match their season high.7

From the Dodgers’ perspective, the previous night’s loss seemed like a minor blip – they had won 19 of 21 games entering the series. At 64-31, up 11½ games over the San Diego Padres in the NL West, the Dodgers were “coasting toward the stretch run of the season.”8 Their .674 winning percentage trailed only the New York Yankees for the major leagues’ best. The Los Angeles newspapers spilled more ink speculating on whether the Dodgers would land Washington’s Juan Soto at the rapidly approaching trade deadline than discussing the game.9 Soto had turned down a contract-extension offer from the Nationals and trade speculation was rampant.10

Washington’s Victor Robles got the hitting started in the first inning with a bloop single into left. César Hernández followed with a similar hit, bringing up Soto. As fans serenaded the 23-year-old Soto, already a two-time All Star, with chants of “future Dodger,” his little nubber up the first-base line advanced the runners. Josh Bell’s tapper to the left scored one, but he was out at first on a good throw by third baseman Max Muncy. Yadiel Hernandez hit a solid roller to left for a single, scoring Hernández for a 2-0 lead.

In the Dodgers’ first, Mookie Betts cut the Nationals’ lead in half with a leadoff home run. No one should have been surprised – the homer was Betts’s 23rd of the year, ranking him fifth11 in the NL, and Gray was second in the NL in home runs allowed.12 The next two batters, Turner and Freddie Freeman, were in the top five in the major leagues in hits with 118 and 120 respectively. Neither added to his total in this inning – Turner struck out and Freeman flied out. Will Smith grounded out to third.

With two outs in the second, Washington’s Lane Thomas beat shortstop Turner’s throw to first for an infield hit. Thomas stole second but was left there when Robles grounded out.

Gray struggled a bit in the bottom of the second, walking two and throwing a wild pitch. He got out of the inning unscored on by striking out Muncy, Cody Bellinger, and Trayce Thompson, perhaps helped by the mound visit from pitching coach Jim Hickey. Muncy was batting only .160 and struggling to recover his 2021 All-Star form as he recovered from an elbow injury.13

The Nationals threatened to expand their lead in each of the next three innings, but the Dodgers denied them each time. Bell was stranded after a two-out double in the third. Luis García hit a one-out triple in the fourth – the ball squirted past the diving left fielder Thompson – but Maikel Franco’s fly out to right wasn’t deep enough to score Garcia, and Thomas struck out. In the fifth, Robles led off with a seeing-eye single into right and followed with a delayed steal of second, hooking his foot on the bag to avoid losing contact. He tried to score on Bell’s two-out single to right, but Betts, headed for his sixth career Gold Glove, threw a strike to the plate to nab him.

In the meantime, Gray pitched around Turner’s one-out double for a scoreless third. He was back in the dugout after two strikeouts and a gentle comebacker in the fourth.

Gray’s road mojo appeared to be working again, but Bellinger tied the game on the first pitch of the fifth, steering a home run just inside the right-field foul pole. It was the 13th homer of the season for Bellinger, a former NL MVP and Rookie of the Year struggling with a .204 batting average.

Thompson singled and took second on Betts’s groundout. Turner grounded to García at shortstop and beat the throw for a single, moving Thompson to third. No surprise there – Turner, by many measures, was the fastest player in the game.14 The Dodgers took the lead, 3-2, on Freeman’s sacrifice fly15 to center, as Robles didn’t even attempt a throw home. Smith’s fly out ended Gray’s outing at 94 pitches, in line with his typical pitch count.

White completed six innings, allowing only a single to García in his final inning of work.

Jordan Weems pitched a one-two-three sixth inning for the Nationals, including a third strikeout of Muncy.

Yency Almonte was the Dodgers’ first relief pitcher in the top of the seventh. He allowed a leadoff single to Thomas, who never left first base.

Weems continued pitching in the bottom of the seventh. He got Bellinger to pop out, but when Thompson walked, Martinez called on Erasmo Ramírez to take over the pitching. Ramírez was up to the task; five pitches for a lineout and a fly out completed the inning.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sent in Garrett Cleavinger, recalled from Triple A earlier that day,16 to preserve the one-run lead in the eighth. Bell grounded to second, but the throw from second baseman Gavin Lux was offline. Bell dove over first base while managing to reach back and touch the bag with his hand.

With Bell on first, Cleavinger struck out slumping pinch-hitter Nelson Cruz (0-for-14 on the road trip) and Ruiz. That brought up the 22-year-old García, who was 1-for-19 coming into the game. Martinez had asked him if he wanted to face Cleavinger, and García responded, “If you let me face him, I’ll hit a double or a home run.”17 García delivered on his promise, homering well into the right-field stands for a 4-3 Nationals lead.

Victor Arano pitched the eighth for the Nationals, allowing a leadoff single to Freeman. The Dodgers got a second baserunner – Jake Lamb hit a grounder to first, and although Bell corralled the ball, his throw to García at second was wide. But the Dodgers were unable to capitalize on the error as Arano retired Muncy and Lux to end the inning.

Cleavinger started pitching the top of the ninth although Craig Kimbrel had warmed in the bullpen. Roberts had decided to leave Cleavinger in to keep the rest of his bullpen fresh for their coming road trip to Colorado.18 Thomas walked, Robles singled, and César Hernández’s perfect bunt advanced them to second and third. Cleavinger grazed Soto’s jersey with a pitch to load the bases. Bell’s fly to center was deep enough to score Thomas, and Robles took third, beating the throw in from Bellinger.

Cruz – who had celebrated his 42nd birthday on July 1 – broke out of his slump with a ringing double off the center-field wall, allowing Robles and Soto to score standing. With the Nationals now leading 7-3, at least half the Dodgers fans had grabbed their bobbleheads and left.

The Nationals weren’t quite done. Phil Bickford took over for Cleavinger.19 Ruiz greeted him with a single past a diving Turner, scoring Cruz. García ended the frame with a line drive directly into Turner’s glove with the score 8-3, Nationals.

The bottom of the ninth was anticlimactic. Hunter Harvey pitched a clean inning to give the Nationals a win and a series win over the Dodgers. It was Martinez’s 300th win as a big-league manager, all with the Nationals.20

The Nationals’ winning streak ended the next night with a 7-1 loss to the Dodgers. They finished the season with a dismal 55-107 record, never winning more than three games in a row. García came in with a respectable .275 batting average and a .704 OPS.

The Dodgers won the NL West with a 111-51 record, finishing 22 games ahead of the Padres – who turned the tables in October, beating the Dodgers 3-1 in the NL Division Series.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Madison McEntire and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN202207260.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2022/B07260LAN2022.htm

Notes

1 For comparison, the previous night’s (Monday) attendance was 48,647 and the day after was 44,229. “2022 Dodgers Promotional Schedule & Giveaways: Bobbleheads, Jackie Robinson Jersey, Taco Tuesday & More,” Sportscity.com, March 17, 2022, https://sportscity.com/2022-dodgers-promotional-schedule-giveaways-bobbleheads-jackie-robinson-jersey-taco-tuesday-more/.

2 Mitch White debuted in 2020, pitching three innings in relief in two games, and picked up his first major-league win. Gray debuted in 2021. After one long relief appearance and one start, he was traded from the Dodgers to the Nationals.

3 He pitched as a starter and reliever in 2021 and 2022, but his only decisions as a starter were losses.

4 He also had four no-decisions.

5 Scherzer’s contract ran only through the end of 2021 and he did not re-sign with the Dodgers. Turner’s contract ran through 2022.

6 Jesse Dougherty, “Back in L.A., Nats’ Gray Just Looking to Move On,” Washington Post, July 27, 2022: D1.

7 The Nationals had had three three-game winning streaks – but nothing longer.

8 Jack Harris, “Dodgers Look to the Stars for Victory,” Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2022: D1.

9 Steve Henson, “Déjà Vu All Over Again for Dodgers,” Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2022: B10.

10 Soto was indeed traded at the deadline – to the Padres, not the Dodgers. He was traded with Bell to San Diego for Robert Hassell, Jarlin Susana, James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, and Luke Voit. Having Soto on a division rival wasn’t what lost the Dodgers the 2022 NLDS. Although the Padres won three games to one, Soto batted only .188 in that series.

11 He was tied for fifth with Christian Walker of Arizona.

12 Thanks to the two home runs allowed in this game, Gray moved into “first place.” By the end of the 2022 season, he led the major leagues in home runs allowed, with 38. Betts finished the year with 35 home runs, tied for fifth in the National League.

13 “Roberts: ‘Glimmer of Hope’ Muncy Back in ’21,” mlb.com, October 6, 2021. https://www.mlb.com/news/max-muncy-playoffs-availability.

14 David Adler, “This Free Agent’s Speed Changes the Game. Here’s How,” mlb.com, November 21, 2022. https://www.mlb.com/news/trea-turner-fastest-2022-23-free-agent.

15 At least he made contact. Despite his general hitting prowess, Freeman was 0-for-7 against Gray in his career.

16 Doug Padilla, “Nats Beat NL West-Leading Dodgers for 2nd Straight Night,” San Luis Obispo (California) Tribune, July 28, 2022: B1.

17 Mark Zuckerman, “García’s Dramatic Homer Lifts Nats to Another Win in L.A.,” masnsports.com, July 27, 2022, https://www.masnsports.com/blog/garcia-s-dramatic-homer-lifts-nats-to-another-win-in-l-a.

18 Harris.

19 Cleavinger and White were both optioned to AAA Oklahoma City the next day. Steve Henson, “Dodgers Come Out Swinging,” Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2022: D1.

20 Martinez had the most managerial wins in Nationals team history, but the 300 wins only put him in sixth place in franchise history (which includes the Montreal Expos).