Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Harris, Mejia help Giants crush Nuts

Slugger extends home run streak, top prospect almost perfect
April 27, 2013

Devin Harris continued one hot streak on Saturday night. The Giants are hoping that Adalberto Mejia started another.

Harris homered for the fourth straight game and Mejia retired the first 15 batters of the game as Class A Advanced San Jose rolled to a 10-0 pounding of the Modesto Nuts at John Thurman Field.

Harris went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, delivering a run-scoring single in the first inning, slugging a two-run homer in the third and lifting a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

"Basically, you've got a guy [Ben Alsup] on the mound who's been coming in the whole game throwing sinkerballs and I kind of figured with a man on first he'd want me to roll over on a pitch," Harris said. "And I looked in and got a good barrel on it."

During his home run streak, the 25-year-old outfielder has gone deep five times and driven in 13 runs. He's batting .286, leads the California League with 24 RBIs and ranks second with seven homers.

"I've just been trying to get into a good position to hit mentally and get my foot down at the right time because I never want to rush," the North Carolina native said. "I haven't been trying too much to hit [home runs], just getting my foot down early and reacting to what I see.

"The guys that have been hitting in front of me having been doing a good job of getting on base. A lot of the guys on base are guys that are base-stealing threats and they can very easily cause the pitchers to make mistakes."

Mejia, the Giants' No. 18 prospect, did not allow a baserunner until Harold Riggins singled leading off the sixth inning. He got Tyler Crousset to hit into a double play before walking Niko Gallego and getting Tyler Massey to fly out on his final pitch.

"He really attacked the hitters," San Jose pitching coach Mike Couchee said. "He located the ball extremely well and was efficient, which allowed him to get into the sixth inning. He had a really good sinkerball working tonight and induced a bunch a ground balls, which allowed him to stay out there."

Mejia, who fanned five, improved to 2-0 while lowering his ERA to 4.19 in his best start of the season.

"He was more efficient," Couchee said. "He kept the ball in the zone and attacked hitters better than he had in the past. I think the biggest thing was he tried to attack the hitters and tried to force contact early in the at-bats, which he did well."

Mejia twice was named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week last season at Class A Augusta, going 10-7 with a 3.97 ERA in 30 games, including 14 starts. He signed with San Francisco as a non-drafted free agent in February 2011.

Kelvin Marte struck out two and allowed two hits over two innings before Hunter Strickland pitched around a hit in the ninth to close out the Giants' second shutout of the season.

Ryan Cavan, who leads the league with 35 hits, went 3-for-6 with three runs scored for San Jose.

Robert Emrich is a contributor to MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertEmrich.