Chavis hits walk-off on three-homer night

Following every at-bat, Michael Chavis goes back to the dugout and takes notes in his journal. Wednesday night's entry had a storybook ending. 
The  No. 10 Red Sox prospect capped a three-homer night with a walk-off two-run shot that gave Class A Advanced Salem a 7-6 victory over Wilmington at Haley Toyota Field.

Box score
"I bring the journal with me everywhere I go," said Chavis, who also homered in Tuesday's win over Wilmington. "I jot down notes on things I've been feeling or thinking during my approach and stuff like that. It's definitely helped me get back on track. I sure hope that it catches on -- a couple of my teammates have said they like the idea, and I think it really does help."
With Salem trailing, 6-5, in the ninth, Chavis dug in against reliever Andres Machado (1-2) with the tying run at second. The 2014 first-round pick fell behind, 0-2, but reverted back to his game plan and worked the count full before sending a blast off the scoreboard in left-center field.

"I've never had a night like this. It's a pretty special moment for me," the 21-year-old said. "I can't even tell you what was going through my head when I was rounding the bases. It was probably the coolest thing I've ever done in baseball. Somebody tweeted at me that it was something you only see in 'MLB The Show.' I thought that was pretty funny."
Chavis battled to a six-pitch walk in the first against Blue Rocks starter Emilio Ogando. His next time up, he applied what he observed from the 23-year-old left-hander and took him deep to left field for a two-run blast. 

"The walk was a little bit of a weird at-bat," the Georgia native said. "Usually, after you draw a walk on six pitches, you get to see most of his stuff, but he threw me all fastballs in that entire trip. So coming into the second at-bat, he flipped me a curveball and I took it to get ahead in the count and then he threw me a 2-0 fastball and I took advantage of it."
Chavis took Ogando deep again in the fifth, this time for a solo shot to center. 

"I was trying not to fall in love with the home run," he said. "Obviously, hitting one is a great feeling, so in between innings I went back into the cages to work on my approach and I kept telling myself to keep things simple. Especially coming off the DL, it would be easy for me to fall in love with the home run. I was pretty proud with how I was able to stick with my approach there."

The three homers felt especially good for Chavis, who has been battling injuries for the better part of a year. He was limited to 81 games last season between Class A Greenville and Salem after sustaining a torn thumb ligament in April. More bad luck befell the 21-year-old in June, when he fractured a finger during infield practice. This season, Chavis landed on the DL after Opening Day with an elbow injury.
"It's definitely a weight off my shoulders," he said. "I came back for this series against Wilmington and things have felt pretty simple and I feel like I'm in a good place. I'm just trying to have a good time out there. If I have fun, the rest seems to take care of itself, and tonight was a lot of fun."

The last Salem player to hit three homers in a game was Jose Sermo last July 26 against Potomac. 
Salem shortstop Deiner Lopez added a solo shot in the ninth to get Salem within a run and set the stage for Chavis' heroics. 
Royals No. 7 prospectChase Vallot and Roman Collins belted solo blasts for the Blue Rocks.