PHOENIX (AP) — Luis GarcÃa Jr. hit his first career grand slam for his second homer of the game in the Washington Nationals' 14-1 romp over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.
James Wood, Daylen Lile and C.J. Abrams also homered and Foster Griffin (7-2) allowed just two hits over five innings for Washington.
The Nationals, who moved back to .500 at 32-32, immediately jumped on Merrill Kelly (5-4). Wood walked to start the game and GarcÃa followed with a home run into the Nationals’ bullpen down the right-field line.
GarcÃa, who rarely faces a left-handed pitcher, stayed in against lefty reliever Philip Abner with the bases loaded in the sixth. He hit his seventh homer of the season to center field to make it 11-1.
The only damage Arizona did to Griffin came when backup catcher Aramis Garcia homered in the third inning.
Kelly lasted five innings, giving up six hits and seven runs.
With the score 12-1 in the eighth, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo brought in position player Adrian Del Castillo to pitch. He hit Dylan Crews with his first pitch to force in a run, but retired the next two batters to end the inning. He gave up a run in the ninth on four singles.
LuJames Groover was 0 for 4 in his MLB debut, batting fifth and playing first base for the Diamondbacks. Groover, 24, selected from Reno on Friday, hit .322 with three homers for Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate this season.
Ildemaro Vargas was not in the Arizona lineup Friday but entered in the eighth inning at second base — and was hit by a pitch in the leg but stayed in. Vargas and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy collided in Thursday night’s game and both left that game.
Washington RHP Zack Littell (5-4, 5.01 ERA) was set to oppose Arizona LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (5-1, 2.24) on Saturday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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