Frogs' Pache extends streak, plates five

Timing is everything.
And on Friday, the timing was just right for Cristian Pache.
The Braves' No. 9 prospect drove in a career-high five runs and put up his first four-hit game of the season, going 4-for-6 with a homer, a double and two runs scored as Class A Advanced Florida outlasted Clearwater, 12-10, at Spectrum Field. The teams combined for 20 hits and seven errors in a slugfest that lasted three hours and 47 minutes.

Gameday box score
"He's a great athlete and an even better kid," Fire Frogs first-year hitting coach Rene Tosoni said. "He is everything that everybody talks about. He can run, hit and throw; he's just a complete player. But the main thing we've been working on is getting down a rhythm and fixing his timing. That's his biggest issue, but his hand-to-eye coordination is so good that sometimes he can get away with it."
Pache notched his 15th multi-hit games of season, including four with at least three hits, while raising his batting average 12 points to .292. And Tosoni believes this could be the beginning of a power surge.
"He's a natural hitter, and what you saw tonight is what happens when he finds the barrel," he said. "He's a low line-drive hitter and if he gets under, it he can hit it out of the park. He's a big, strong kid and if he can find some consistency with driving it to right, I think the power is there."
After leading off the game with a fly ball to center field, the 19-year-old outfielder lined a single to left on an 0-1 fastball from Threshers starter Mauricio Llovera in the third inning.
With one out in the seventh, Pache stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and hammered the first offering from left-hander Garrett Cleavinger to right for his 10th double, scoring Ray-Patrick Didder and Marcus Mooney to tie the game, 4-4. Pache scored four batters later when Garrison Schwartz drew a bases-loaded walk off Alberto Tirado.
In the eighth, the native of the Dominican Republic smashed a three-run dinger on a 1-1 fastball from southpaw Aaron Brown (1-3) that came in middle-high and cleared the wall in left. That homer, his third, helped answer Clearwater's six-run bottom of the seventh with a second straight six-run inning by Florida.
After a leadoff walk by Raysheandall Michel in the ninth, Pache again jumped on the first pitch -- this time from Phillies No. 21 prospectMcKenzie Mills -- and knocked a grounder into left for another base hit.
"In his first at-bat, that guy was a hard thrower and Cristian just got beat there on a fastball. He just missed it," Tosoni said. "But then in the next at-bat he shortened up and just tried to quiet down the load, and it was a great adjustment. He stuck with that the rest of the game and it worked for him all day. And at such a young age, for him to be able to make that type of adjustment within a game is big."
Pache also had a four-hit game last Aug. 3, going 4-for-6 with Class A Rome, and he's riding an eight-game hitting streak.

"His swing is so natural and level through the zone that it's really just about finding the barrel for him," Tosoni said. "He used to have a leg kick and we went away from it and now the goal is just being consistent and getting his timing right. Right now, he can catch the barrel at least once, but we want to get it to three or four times a game -- like tonight."
Braves No. 29 prospect Josh Graham (1-0) was the fifth pitcher used by Florida and settled things down for the Fire Frogs. The right-hander worked 1 2/3 hitless frames, working a round three walks and striking out one. Southpaw Thomas Burrows, Atlanta's 26th-ranked prospect, tossed a clean ninth with two punchouts to nail down his first save.
Eight of the Threshers' nine starters registered at least one hit, with rehabbing Phillies shortstop J.P. Crawford going 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and two runs scored.