In new role, Garcia provides much-needed relief

DENVER — Jaime Garcia’s second relief appearance of the season was longer than both of his past two starts — and considerably better.

Garcia’s performance was one of the few features on the Cardinals’ highlight reel from the 11-1 loss to the Rockies in the finale of the three-game set. He came in to relieve Luke Weaver, who yielded six runs on seven hits in two innings.

Garcia stopped the bleeding with four scoreless innings of relief. He allowed just one hit — a single to National League batting leader DJ LeMahieu (.351) — walked none and struck out five.

“He was great,” manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s the guy that we love to watch. His breaking ball was terrific, he had good sink. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes. The ones he had more of the plate on, he had good movement on, so it was a good day for him.”

Garcia had been having a tough September, posting an 0-2 record and a 7.43 ERA in three starts and one relief appearance before Wednesday. He lasted 1 2/3 …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com