Yard Goats' Rodgers comes through in OT

As a long night turned into morning, Brendan Rodgers began to get anxious about sending his team home happy.
"I was just trying to get it over with," he said. "I think I was a pressing a little too much, trying to do too much with it, but I'm glad I was able to redeem myself."
The Rockies' top prospect began Saturday's game with three straight hits, then struck out in the eighth and 10th innings. But he smacked his second homer of the night in the 13th to give Double-A Hartford a 7-6 win over Trenton on Saturday at Dunkin' Donuts Park. He finished 4-for-7 with three runs scored.

After Omar Carrizales struck out to begin the 13th, Rodgers picked out a 1-2 slider from reliever Dillon McNamara and sent it toward the left field bleachers.
"I was very, very excited," he said. "That was a long game and I'm glad we were able to get the win."
The two-homer game was the fourth of Rodgers' career, with one coming on May 26 with Class A Advanced Lancaster and two last season with Class A Asheville.
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On Whalers Alumni Weekend, the 20-year-old shortstop hit a solo shot in the first inning against a familiar face in Yankees No. 12 prospectDomingo Acevedo.
"I faced him in the Futures Game," Rodgers said. "I hit a first-pitch fastball through the six-hole against him and then realized this morning that we were facing the same guy. I kind of had an idea that he wasn't going to challenge me with that first-pitch fastball again, so after he started me with a slider, I just put a good swing on a fastball he left out over the plate."

The homer, which landed in the left-center field seats, was Rodgers' first in Hartford -- his first in the Eastern League came on July 6 in Bowie after he hit 12 in the California League. He followed with singles in the second and fourth.
"I was just getting into good hitters' counts and getting pitches out over the plate to drive," he said. "I just saw it well tonight and, hopefully, it keeps going."
The 2015 first-round pick wasn't the only Yard Goat who flashed some power on Saturday. Hitting one spot down the lineup, Drew Weeks, also went deep twice and collected three RBIs.
"He was just awesome at the plate," Rodgers said. "He got his fastballs up and early in the count and he drove them. He doesn't miss mistakes.

"Before the game, we actually both told each other we are going to get loud today and we ended up doing just that. It was a really good feeling to back up what we said."
Rodgers, who bumped his average to .254 through 17 games with the Yard Goats, said he thinks he's about to turn the corner on making the adjustments to Double-A competition.
"I think tonight was a big night for me," he said. "I think this is going to get things going. I had a lot of confidence at the plate tonight. Yeah, I still had a little slow start, but it's just baseball. It's going to come. I just need to keep playing and putting together good at-bats and good things will happen."