Lookouts' Siri powers up with two homers

Jose Siri's power swing has started to show signs of life over the past few days.
Cincinnati's ninth-ranked prospect belted a pair of two-run homers to back a strong start by No. 20 Packy Naughton in Double-A Chattanooga's 5-0 win over Jacksonville on Monday night at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

Both of Siri's taters came at the expense of Marlins No. 10 prospectJorge Guzman on 2-2 pitches.
"I just think sometimes he needs to be challenged," Lookouts manager Pat Kelly said of Siri, "Obviously facing Guzman is more of a challenge for him and he did a nice job."
The 23-year-old belted his first long ball to left field in the third inning and launched his second to left-center in the sixth.
"He got a slider the first time that he left up in the zone, and he hit the ball out of the park in left field," Kelly said. "And the second one, I don't think he got completely, but in this ballpark, if you get it out, you really earned it. They're two impressive home runs."
The pair of roundtrippers raised Siri's season total to seven. He's gone deep three times in his last four games.
Gameday box score 
Kelly attributed Siri's recent slugging spike in part to his diligent work with Chattanooga hitting coach Daryle Ward.
"Obviously contact is important, but at the same time, you don't want to give up the power," the skipper said. "And I think that, early in the year, he was trying to eliminate strikeouts and go into more of a contact mode."
The 23-year-old made a one-game cameo for Triple-A Louisville on June 18 and has hit safely in eight of his 10 games since returning to the Southern League. Siri also went yard in Friday's game against Tennessee.

The 6-foot-2 center fielder fanned 38 times in 29 games in May, but reduced that to 18 in 20 contests last month. He played fewer games in June during the Southern League All-Star break and what Kelly called a league suspension at the beginning of the month.

"He's getting better, but it's a fine line," Kelly said of the whiffs. "You don't want to take away the power, but at the same time, obviously he's a guy that can run and you'd like to have him take advantage of his speed and make a little bit better contact."
Siri raised his average to .265/.318/.396 with 21 extra-base hits and 38 RBIs in 74 games. He's also stolen 18 bases in 23 tries, but just three in June after swiping 11 bags in May.
"If the opportunity's not there, he's not just gonna run for running's sake," Kelly said. "He's very smart on the bases."

Naughton (4-4) didn't allow a hit until Santiago Chávez's double with two outs in the fifth.

"This guy can pitch," Kelly said. "He has a nice mix of his pitches, but he uses his fastball a lot."

While some may consider Naughton a soft-tossing lefty, his manager estimated that Naughton throws the fastball 70 percent of the time. The southpaw finished after giving up two hits and two walks while striking out seven through 6 2/3 frames.
"I love having him on the mound," Kelly said. "He really gives us a good performance every time out."