Gordon stays hot with three hits, homer

Nick Gordon missed out on deja vu all over again on Friday, but the Twins' No. 6 prospect still put together a night to remember.

"It was a good day at the plate," he said. "We would have liked to come out on top with that win, but I was in situations where I was able to help my team."

The 19-year-old shortstop went 3-for-5 with his first homer of the season in Class A Cedar Rapids' 7-5 loss to visiting Bowling Green.

The bases were loaded and Gordon was three spots in the lineup away when the Hot Rods recorded the final out.

"We had a chance. We compete every single night. It was good for us to stay in the ballgame and it was a pretty exciting game," he said. "We've got to work on some things tomorrow and do a few things better and see if we can come away with that 'W.'"

The loss came one night after Gordon -- MLB.com's No. 90 overall prospect --  came off the bench to deliver a walk-off single in the Kernels' 5-4 win over Dayton.

"That was a good situation for me to be in right there, and it felt great for us to be able to come away with a win. I was kind of preparing myself the entire game for that," Gordon said of his clutch hit. "I was making sure I was swinging the bat, keeping my body warm, moving around. I like to always be ready, even on days when I'm not playing. The situation ended up coming up and I was prepared for it."

Friday's three-hit night leaves Gordon 9-for-14 over his last four games. He's batting .277 -- up 22 points since July 4 -- and sports a .341 on-base percentage and 23 stolen bases in 96 games. 

"I feel good," said the 2014 first-round pick, who's the son of 21-year big league veteran Tom Gordon and brother of two-time All-Star Dee Gordon.

"It's just getting to the field and hitting. You've got to hit. You've got to hit yourself out of a slump, take a lot of at-bats. That's the only way you're going to do it. The more pitches I see, the more at-bats I get, the more I'm going to start to hit in games."

After singling in the first inning, Gordon took Bowling Green starter Chris Pike deep for a two-run dinger with two outs in the third.

"I was trying to get a pitch to hit. He threw a good first-pitch changeup and I knew he'd try to come back with it," he said. "If it got up, I knew I wanted to hit it. He missed with it and I got a good swing on it."

The roundtripper was the second of the 6-foot, 160-pound infielder's professional career and first since he socked one for Rookie-level Elizabethton on June 25, 2014.

"It definitely felt good," to get the first one of 2015 out of the way, said Gordon, who singled again and scored in the seventh.

While Gordon was recording his seventh three-hit game of the season, Rays No. 22 prospect Justin Williams delivered a three-run double for the Hot Rods. Bowling Green also got three hits, an RBI and a run scored from Alec Sole.

Pike (9-5) ended a personal three-game losing streak, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks while striking out two over six innings.