Lowery rediscovers swing with Hillsboro

Luke Lowery found that making things simple straightened out his game. In fact, on Sunday, it was perfect.

Arizona's 2015 14^th-round pick started the year with Class A Kane County in the Midwest League and struggled to a .099 average and five RBIs in 71 at-bats over 20 games.

After a month in extended spring training, Lowery was sent to Class A Short Season Hillsboro on June 16. Prior to Sunday's contest, the catcher had slashed .267/.351/.333 with one long ball and 18 RBIs in 150 at-bats across 40 games with the Hops. In one perfect night, though, he pushed his average up to .290.

Lowery tallied a career-high five hits, including a trio of doubles, and matched his professional best with five RBIs in Hillsboro's 9-7 win over Everett on Sunday at Everett Memorial Stadium. He's posted five multi-hit games in his last 10 contests while hitting .487 over that span.

"I had a lot of things wrong with my swing at Kane County," Lowery said. "I just had to go back to a simple swing, putting the ball in play. I worked to get my approach right and just trust the process really.

"[The struggle] was a blessing in disguise. I had never been through an offensive struggle like that in my life. It was tough and it was a mental grind, not being confident in my at-bats and not being confident in my ability. It helped me focus in a lot more every single day in my early work and cage work, taking my batting practice a lot more serious and working on different things. It helped me refocus and find the player I know I can be."

Lowery ripped a two-out double to right field in the first inning off Ljay Newsome. He drove in his first two runs of the game with a two-out single to center in the third, and then plated two more with a two-run homer to left-center against the right-handed starter in the fifth.

"I was really seeing it well," Lowery said. "Every at-bat was different. I saw fastball in here and slider there, but I was trying to stay to right field [with my approach].

"[On the home run,] I saw a slider first pitch and hit it to left-center. I was watching how he was pitching [the hitters in front of me], and when I went up there, I was trying to see the ball up. I saw it well, he hung it a little bit and I out good wood on it and did what I was supposed to do with it."

The Virginia native belted an RBI double to right in the sixth and then scored on Justin Chigbogu's two-bagger.

"I've been working on staying to right field and reacting to anything inside while using the big part of the field and trying to stay in the gaps," Lowery said. "I have a tendency to pull off, so I've been working on hitting the ball the other way."

The 22-year-old completed his perfect night at the dish with his third double to straight-away center with two outs in the eighth.

"This year has kind of been a struggle for me hitting wise," Lowery said. "I'm just trying to get good pitches to hit and stick with my approach.

"[When I was at] extended spring, the games don't count, so you can't get down on yourself. I just focused on the things I came into my early work doing, whether I was trying to keep my shoulder on or keep my hands back. I just had to trust the process and the last couple of games can be attributed to that."

Stephen Smith smacked a solo shot in the fourth for the Hops.

Hillsboro starter Junior Garcia gave up four runs -- two earned -- on four hits and four walks while striking out four over 4 1/3 innings. Jeferson Mejia (4-2) gave up a run on two hits and two strikeouts over 1 1/3 innings for the win.

Everett's David Greer went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, and Johmbeyker Morales added three hits, including a double.

Newsome (4-2) was tagged for six runs -- four earned -- on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings.