Daytona's Aquino rips another homer in win

Class A Advanced Daytona hitting coach Gookie Dawkins said he realized in May or June that Aristides Aquino was starting to understand how to use his power to all fields and consistently putting together competitive at-bats.

"He was driving the ball to right-center field, down the right-field line and through the four-hole," Dawkins said. "From that point, I knew he understood."

The Reds' No. 20 prospect homered for the fourth time in four games on Monday as the Tortugas sealed a 4-3 come-from-behind-win over the Brevard County Manatees in 12 innings at Radiology Associates Field at Jackie Robinson Park.

Aquino was 0-for-3 before he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth frame with two outs, a runner on and Daytona down, 3-0. On the third pitch of the at-bat, he lofted a massive homer to left field off No. 21 Brewers prospect Freddy Peralta to put the Tortugas within a run.

"I think that pitch was left up a little bit and he put a good swing on it," Dawkins said. "He hit it well. It went out on a line, and I think it might have been 111 or 112 mph off the bat."

After Brad Kuntz relieved Peralta, Brian O'Grady followed with a triple to right and scored the tying run on a pinch-hit single to left by Reds' No. 27 prospect Gavin LaValley.

"At the beginning of the game, I think [Aquino] was getting into position to hit just a tad bit too late because [Brevard County starter Jon Perrin] had some good late run on the ball and he had a good slider going, too," Dawkins said. "He had some rushed at-bats."

The 22-outfielder year-old leads the Florida State League in triples (11), total bases (219) and slugging percentage (.529) and is three homers shy of tying Detroit's No. 3 prospect Christin Stewart, who was promoted to Double-A Erie on Aug. 8, for the league lead.

Aquino has tallied 10 RBIs in his last four games.

"The key with him is that he's already a big, strong guy, so don't go up there trying to hit home runs," Dawkins said. "Just take a nice and easy swing, and the most important thing is being on time and being in positon to hit, which allows him to use the whole field. When he takes big swings, he pulls off and starts to get pull-happy."

Perrin allowed three hits and struck out 12 while holding the Tortugas scoreless through seven innings. He's given up three earned runs in 32 innings over his last five starts, pushing his ERA down to 2.46.

"[Perrin] made pitches well and worked both sides of the plate, but he also had a few pitches he threw that I thought we had a chance to hit," Dawkins said.

Juan Duran, who went 3-for-6, belted a walk-off single off Clint Terry (1-3) in the 12^th to seal the win. O'Grady went 3-for-5 with and fell a homer shy of the cycle.

Daytona starter Jonathon Crawford gave up two runs on four hits and a walk while fanning three batters over five innings. Alex Powers (8-0) struck out one in a scoreless 12^th for the win.

Blake Allemand went 3-for-6 with a solo homer and drove in three runs for the Manatees.