PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies didn't sign Adolis García to carry their offense.
They signed him to keep opposing pitchers honest.
For much of the season, he hasn't been able to do that.
The strikeouts piled up. The home runs disappeared. The confidence seemed to follow.
By the time García stepped to the plate this week against San Diego, in more than half of his 60 plate appearances. His last home run came on May 6. Nearly a month had passed without the right-handed slugger delivering the kind of swing the Phillies believed still existed somewhere inside him.
So while most of the clubhouse enjoyed Monday's off day after a cross-country flight home from Los Angeles, García reported to Citizens Bank Park.
The stadium was empty.
The work wasn't.
Working alongside hitting coach Kevin Long and some teammates, García spent the afternoon searching for something that had been missing for weeks — the swing that once made him one of baseball's most dangerous power hitters.
Three days later, he stood near home plate with his arms extended, admiring a baseball soaring into the left-field seats.
A drought had ended.
A pulse had returned.
Adolis García finally looked like Adolis García again.
After lining a 109-mph laser into the seats in the fourth inning Thursday afternoon, García flipped his bat and watched.
"That's me," García said. "I pimp every homer."
It had been a long wait for that celebration.
García's fifth home run of the season traveled 429 feet, the longest and hardest-hit ball of his year. More importantly, it punctuated what has quietly become his most encouraging stretch since arriving in Philadelphia.
He recorded hits in all three games against San Diego, finishing the series 3-for-10 with a double, a home run and far more competitive at-bats than the numbers alone reveal.
Interim manager Don Mattingly noticed the difference before the box scores did.
"I think he's gaining confidence," Mattingly said. "You start to see him swinging the bat — obviously the home run and the line out to center, he crushed. You're starting to see more rhythm, better at-bats. It's good to see that."
Mattingly had considered giving García another day off earlier in the week. Instead, after seeing the extra work and hearing positive feedback from Long, he decided to stay patient.
For now, that patience appears to be paying off.
"We've been working really hard on finding my swing," García said through an interpreter. "Getting to that swing that characterizes me as a hitter."
The Phillies aren't asking García to become the All-Star who terrorized pitchers during Texas' championship run in 2023.
They don't need that version.
What they need is a productive everyday right fielder capable of lengthening a lineup that has spent much of the past month searching for offense. With the defense García provides, even league-average production at the plate would represent a significant upgrade.
He's nowhere near that point yet.
Entering Thursday, García was still hitting .196 with a .591 OPS. One productive series doesn't erase two difficult months.
But it might be the beginning of something.
The strikeouts haven't disappeared. García still fanned three times during the series. Yet there's a meaningful difference between striking out in 30 percent of your plate appearances and striking out in more than half of them.
The quality of contact has improved.
The rhythm has improved.
The confidence appears to be returning.
"I think it's made me feel comfortable and that's one of the main things when you are working on this," García said. "It's made me take good swings at good pitches."
The Phillies have managed to stay afloat despite inconsistent offense for much of the season. Their pitching has carried the burden. Their defense has helped bridge the gaps.
Eventually, though, they'll need more from the middle and bottom portions of the lineup.
Perhaps Thursday's blast was simply one good swing.
Or perhaps it was the first sign that weeks of frustration, empty ballparks and extra batting practice sessions are finally beginning to produce results.
"You just have to keep working and trying to get better," García said, "that's how you get out of it."
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