John Garcia Makes Baseball History in 18-8 Win

ASHEVILLE- The Asheville Tourists defeated the Bowling Green Hot Rods 18-8 on Wednesday night in a game that featured baseball history. Asheville’s Designated Hitter, John Garcia, went 5-for-6 with a professional baseball record five doubles. No player in MLB history or in Minor League Baseball since single-game records started being kept has a player hit five doubles in the same game, until now.

Garcia’s first double was down the right field line in the first inning. John then parked his second double over the head of Bowling Green’s centerfielder in the second inning. Garcia notched his third two-bagger of the game with a shot into left-centerfield. In the fifth, Garcia nearly hit a Home Run to right field, but the ball hit the top of the wall and resulted in double number four. The final double came in the seventh inning on a sharp ground ball tucked just inside the third base bag.

Brice Matthews and Luis Encarnacion each delivered four hits in the win. Matthews went 4-for-4 with two Home Runs and two walks for a perfect day at the plate. Austin Deming also connected with a two-run Home Run, his fourth of the season. Asheville finished with a season-high 18 runs on a season-high 19 hits. The Tourists batted around in two separate innings.

The pitching trio of Derek True, Layne Henderson, and James Hicks wore down Bowling Green after the Hot Rods started quickly. Hicks earned the win, his first at the High-A level, with four solid innings pitched down the stretch.

Asheville and Bowling Green will play Game Three of the series on Thursday night. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35pm ET.