Former Brewer Avisaíl García dashes Milwaukee's hopes with eighth-inning grand slam for the Marlins

Avisaíl García did plenty of good for the Milwaukee Brewers last season.

But with one swing of the bat on Thursday night, he did about the worst thing possible to his former teammates by putting a big dent into their postseason aspirations.

BOX SCORE: Marlins 4, Brewers 2

Now playing right field for the Miami Marlins after signing a big free-agent deal  in the offseason, García drilled a two-out, two-strike grand slam off Freddy Peralta in the eighth inning to turn what should have been a feel-good Brewers victory into a painful 4-2 defeat at American Family Field.

Milwaukee entered the game primed to take possession of the third wild-card spot in the National League after the Philadelphia Phillies were swept by the Chicago Cubs in a three-game series at Wrigley Field.

But after García had a hand in the Brewers scoring both their runs in the second inning when he committed a pair of fielding errors, the Milwaukee offense went back into its shell, twice failing to score a run despite loading the bases in both the third and the sixth inning and then leading off the seventh with a double.

Peralta (4-4), coming out of the bullpen for the first time this season as manager Craig Counsell employs an all-hands-on-deck approach with his pitching, allowed a pair of singles but then got to within an out of finishing the eighth when he walked Brian Anderson on four pitches.

That brought García to the plate, and in a 1-2 count he got just enough of a 95.2 mph fastball over the outer portion of the plate to send it just over the wall in center – a blast that let all the air out of the ballpark.

Milwaukee went down in order in the eighth and then got a runner on first with one out in the ninth but couldn't advance him as Rowdy Tellez popped out and Andrew McCutchen struck out.

Now, the Brewers are right back where they started the day, one-half game out with only six games left to play.

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Taking a page out of Brandon Woodruff's book, starter Eric Lauer registered his first six outs via strikeout, and he upped that total to seven after three innings while allowing a pair of baserunners – the first on catcher's interference and the other on a single.

And he was pitching from in front from the second inning on as the offense turned three singles into a pair of runs.

Christian Yelich, batting cleanup for the first time this season, singled to lead off and Mike Brosseau followed with a shot to the gap in right-center. García missed both cutoff men with his throw in and Yelich came around to score with a perfect slide for the game's first run.

Two batters later, Keston Hiura sent a gapper to right-center that García overran. Brosseau, who advanced to second on García's first error, was able to score on his second to make it 2-0.

Lauer followed that up by facing the minimum for the rest of his outing, striking out one in each of his final three innings to finish with nine over five.

His pitch count, 71, was only five more than his previous start Friday at Cincinnati, but much more productive considering he lasted only 2⅔ innings against the Reds.

Miami lefty Braxton Garrett limited Milwaukee to those two runs over four innings and was replaced righty Bryan Hoeing. Hoeing recorded only two outs before he was knocked out of the game by a 110.6 mph shot off the bat of Willy Adames that hit him in the left knee.

The Brewers went on to load the bases with one out in the sixth but couldn't add to their 2-0 lead as Victor Caratini grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

Peter Strzelecki pitched a scoreless sixth then was replaced by Peralta, who struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 seventh.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ex-Brewer Avasail Garcia hits grand slam for Marlins to beat Milwaukee