Shuckers' Phillips launches three homers

Brett Phillips has become known in recent years for his sense of humor as well as the occasional adventure with a possum. On Saturday, he made another claim to fame of a more historical nature.

The Brewers' No. 2 prospect became the first Shuckers player to hit three homers in a game as Double-A Biloxi beat Pensacola, 9-3.

Phillips started quickly, slugging a two-run homer over the wall of Blue Wahoos Stadium in left-center field with nobody out in the first inning. An inning later, he struck again with another two-run homer, this time to right-center. After flying out to the warning track in right in the fourth, the 21-year-old outfielder went deep for the third time, another two-run blast to right-center. He grounded out in the ninth to close out his game.

"That was a fun night," Phillips said. "I had been struggling and a lot of the success I had tonight and yesterday I give it to my hitting coach [Sandy Guerrero]. We made a couple of minor adjustments. Also my parents as well. I've been trying to do way too much and it was a matter of them telling me to relax and have fun.

"It was a 3-0 pitch and I had already hit two [homers], so my manager [Mike Guerrero] let me swing. It happened to be right down the middle, [Pensacola's Barrett Astin] is just trying to get a strike and I put a good swing on it."

The Shuckers just entered the Southern League last season, giving Phillips a unique spot in club history.

"It feels good, but the team has only been around for two years," the Florida native said. "It's good to go down in the record book, but I'm sure it will be beaten. Hopefully soon, I love to see people who hit multi-homer games like that. It's good to be in the record books."

On April 30, Phillips had his second on-field encounter in as many years with an opossum. A week later, he launched three homers in a game. Coincidence or good-luck charm? According to Phillips, it's definitely not the latter.

"No, not at all," he said. "The opossum is just a funny story."

In the 371 Minor League games he played before Saturday, Phillips had not gone deep twice in a game, making the third long ball a bit of a surprise to him.

"After the second one I hit, I looked over at my right fielder, Kyle Wren, who had been on base every time I hit a home run tonight, which was awesome," MLB.com's No. 29 prospect said. "He put together great at-bats. I told him, this was my first time hitting two home runs in a game. I was excited, but then the third one came and I kind of blew my own mind."

Phillips raised his average to .274 and his OPS to .868. He now ranks third in the Southern League with 21 RBIs in 27 games.

Wren reached base three times, scoring three runs and driving in another for the Shuckers and teammate Tyrone Taylor added an RBI single.

Jed Bradley (3-1) earned the win in relief, giving up two hits and striking out two over 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

Pensacola's Tony Renda collected three hits, including a double, and scored a run in the loss.