By any measure, Friday night’s performance against Kansas City was one of the best of Jaime Garcia’s career. He hurled eight scoreless innings, allowing just four hits while striking out six batters. On top of that, Garcia extended his streak to 30 consecutive innings without allowing a walk.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Yet after the 4-0 victory over the Royals, the St. Louis Cardinals left-hander seemed anything but happy as he answered questions in front of his locker.
“W,” was his response to the first question as to what he took away from the game.
“I’m healthy,” he then quickly answered to what besides physically, how good has he been during this recent stretch of games. As for how he assessed his pitches on the night, “They were good, I was able to keep the ball down.”
When it was pointed out that he didn’t seem very happy for how well he pitched, Garcia stated,”I’m extremely happy for the team.”
He also admitted personal happiness.
“Always happy when you’re healthy and you’re going out there and competing, you’re always happy,” Garcia said. “But you enjoy the win tonight for the team and turn the page and get ready for the next one.”
Kansas City Manager Ned Yost wasn’t shy about how impressive Garcia was.
“Man, superb execution,” stated Yost. “I asked Dale (Sveum) that in the 6th inning–what’s he doing? He said you would not believe his command and execution of his pitches–all four of them. He said (Garcia) could walk up to the plate with a ball and say I want to put it here and then that’s where he was putting it.”
All five of Garcia’s outings have been quality starts this season and four of the five have lasted at least 7.0 innings.
Meanwhile, in the visitor’s clubhouse, Yost also expressed some frustration with questions about starter Yardano Ventura’s early exit from the game in the 4th inning, which was announced as a precaution due to weakness in his right-hand.
“I’m not speculating, we’ll find out tomorrow,” began Yost. “I’m doing the same thing, I go ‘right-hand weakness? what are we talking about?’ We don’t know. We’ve got to find out. I’m not speculating on anything right now until we get a better grasp on what it is.”
“Let’s continue to beat this dead horse, alright–I have no idea,” responded Yost to more questions. “He has right-hand weakness, we’ll find out more today.”
“I didn’t talk to him, no. By the time he got in, Dave went with him into the tunnel with Nick and then came back. Nick was afraid that he was going to start to alter his mechanics and that could lead to something different. So, Nick said ‘my recommendation is we get him out of there’ and that’s all I needed to hear and we went to Blanton.”
Ventura had thrown 7.0 innings in four straight outings prior to 3.0 innings in each of his last two starts.
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
More like this:
