O'Neill belts a pair of homers for Blaze

The sun of springtime is fading and summer nights comprise the bulk of the road ahead in the Minor League season. Tyler O'Neill has found his evening persona, and it's suiting him just fine at the plate.

O'Neill belted two-run homers in his first two at-bats Saturday night, adding a walk, as Class A Advanced Bakersfield stumbled late in an 8-6 loss to visiting Visalia.

The Mariners' No. 12 prospect got the Blaze started with a two-run shot in the bottom of the first inning and put them back in front with another blast in the third. The pair of long balls was one short of equaling O'Neill's season total entering the night.

"I felt pretty good in BP. I was feeling the ball off my bat pretty well, putting balls left, right and center. I knew coming into the game, I was going to have a good night," O'Neill said. "I was just trying to keep doing my thing and not think too much.

"Every time you hit a home run, there's a bit of an adrenaline rush, but ... I just wanted to take [the first one] into my second at-bat and keep trying to help my team win. That was my main focus."

A .173 hitter as late as April 23, O'Neill has started turning his season around over the last two weeks. His two-hit Saturday night lifted his average 13 points to .240, his OPS 87 points to .750 and extended his hitting streak to seven games. The 19-year-old right fielder attributed his groove in part to his acclimation to the California League schedule.

"In Spring Training, we play a lot of day games, so it's a big adjustment coming in from all day games to the night games, adjusting to the lights and all that sort of stuff," he said. "I think it definitely took some time for me to get some feel for it, but I feel like I'm seeing the ball a lot better lately."

The Blaze entered the ninth with a 4-3 lead before the Rawhide erupted. Visalia sent eight men to the plate and scored five times, with D-backs No. 27 prospect Daniel Palka's two-run single highlighting the rally.

Bakersfield tried to respond in the bottom of the ninth. Two batters after Tyler Marlette's leadoff walk, Kyle Petty belted a two-run homer, but Joey Krehbiel struck out both batters he faced for his fourth save.

"We just tried to go into the bottom of the ninth and string something together," O'Neill said. "We almost had something there."

Blaze reliever Emilio Pagan (1-4) was charged with five runs -- three earned -- on three hits in one inning to take the loss.