JetHawks' Rodgers stays hot with five RBIs

Walking to the on-deck circle in the seventh inning on Tuesday, Brendan Rodgers decided to turn his attention to the bullpen instead of the mound. Reliever Lukas Schiraldi had just walked two of Rodgers' Class A Advanced Lancaster teammates, so the right-handed hitter knew he would probably face a new pitcher.
And after Schiraldi issued a third walk, Matt Walker was brought in to pitch to the Rockies' top prospect.
After taking the first offering, Rodgers expected a strike. And he was right, drilling a pitch right down the middle to left field for his second career grand slam.

"I knew I got it, so that was a no-doubter," he said.
With his parents, Greg and Julie, in the crowd at The Hangar, Rodgers tied his career high with five RBIs, going 3-for-5 with a double, a walk, a stolen base and three runs scored in the JetHawks' 15-13 loss to Modesto.
Box score
"They are always good luck, they always bring the hits," he said of his parents. "I do feel a little more comfortable because they've been around, following me for my whole career, and it was good to have them there and have a good first game of the series for them."
Prior to scoring the JetHawks' final run of the game, he scored their first. After knocking a single to right in the opening inning, Rodgers came around on the first of two homers by Rockies No. 30 prospect Sam Hilliard.
"It's definitely good to set the tone early on. In our park, five runs is really nothing because of the wind and whatnot," the 20-year-old said. "We lost a few pop flies that fell in front of our outfielders ... that were hits and those kind of hurt you early on. But it was good to get a lead early on for our pitcher."
MLB.com's No. 12 overall prospect struck out in the second but was back at it with an RBI double to right in the fourth, giving him his seventh multi-hit game in 14 chances this season.
Facing Schiraldi in the seventh, it was the first time this year that Rodgers came up with the bases loaded. He wasted no time belting the go-ahead grand slam, his first since May 7, 2016 with Class A Asheville.
"It felt really good," he said. "I've been hitting well, just not as much power as I maybe want to, but starting to get back in the swing of things and getting into hitter's counts and seeing the ball well and got some good pitches tonight to hit and didn't miss them."
An inning later, the bases were loaded again for Rodgers. He sent a blast to deep center field that was tracked down by Ricky Eusebio about 10 feet shy of another slam. It didn't seem too costly at the time, but after the Nuts rallied for four runs in the ninth, the Rodgers family couldn't help but think that was the difference.
"They were excited and happy for me, and my dad had thought I got the second [grand slam] and he basically said what I said, that we needed that one if we wanted to win that game, but it got down," the shortstop said.

Following a dominant performance on Sunday and a day off on Monday, the Florida native is 7-for-8 with two homers and six RBIs in his last two games as he boosted his average to .373 following a wrist injury that delayed the start of his season until April 24.
"I think just getting in that hitter's count, that 2-0, that 3-1 count, and just hitting the pitcher's mistake, with him leaving the ball over the plate or just fighting, fighting and getting that fastball up and over the plate and driving it," Rodgers said of the key to his surge.
Mariners No. 27 prospect Gianfranco Wawoe collected three hits, three RBIs, three runs scored and a stolen base, while Eusebio went 3-for-4 with a homer, two doubles, a walk and four runs scored. Eric Filia recorded his second four-hit game of the season and drove in two runs.
Reliever Matt Walker (2-0) notched the win after allowing a run on three hits and two walks in two innings. Spencer Herrmann worked around a hit with a strikeout in a scoreless ninth for his first California League save.