Portland's Chavis records first four-hit game

Michael Chavis sits in the dugout and makes notes in a journal about his at-bats during each game. After almost every plate appearance, Boston's No. 3 prospect leaves himself a reminder, which comes in handy after some unsuccessful games.
"I write, 'Flush it, start it over,' so that I leave it in the past," he said. "I don't dwell on a negative at-bat or I don't get caught up saying, 'Oh well, I had a hit last at-bat, I don't need to worry about next at-bat.' Every time, I'm starting over, it's a new day, it's a new at-bat."
Chavis broke out of a skid with a career-high four hits in Double-A Portland's 3-1 loss to Trenton on Monday night at ARM & HAMMER Park. The 2014 first-round pick doubled twice while raising his average 15 points to .280.

Chavis entered the contest having gone 4-for-23 over his past seven games, but felt no urgency to make drastic changes in his approach. 
"Today, I was feeling pretty decent," the Marietta, Georgia native said. "The past few days I had been having good at-bats and I had been seeing the ball well, but I really hadn't been getting the results. I would put a good swing on the ball and would barely miss it here and there. We had a new series that started [Monday] in Trenton, so I told myself that I was going to simplify things and just really let my hands work.
"I wasn't trying to think about any type of directional stuff or mechanical stuff. I was just trying to find an approach that would allow my hands to work and also barrel the ball." 
Gameday box score
After beginning the season with Class A Advanced Salem, Chavis has 28 extra-base hits and 33 RBIs in 54 games with the Sea Dogs. In 113 games across two levels, Chavis is batting .300 with 29 homers and 88 RBIs. The 22-year-old was hitting .232 for the month, but that number rose to .274 after Monday's outburst.  
"It's one of those things where it's August and you start getting a little more tired," he said. "Something that we talked about within the team is that you have to be aware of your body. Obviously, everybody's getting tired. It's a long season. You need to be aware of, 'Hey, my legs are getting tired. Maybe I'm trying to add too much because my body is tired.' It's little subconscious stuff like that. Being aware of it being August was something that I did have to take into account."
With two outs in the first inning, Chavis ripped a 3-1 pitch from right-hander Brody Koerner back up the middle for a single. The Georgia high school product stroked his second single to left field with two outs in the third. 
"It's a great feeling, I'm not going to lie," Chavis said. "After you get that second hit and you know you're 2-for-2 or you have two hits on the day, but one of the things I harp on is flushing it, whether it's good or bad. No matter the outcome, I have to flush it as soon as the at-bat is over."

After Chad De La Guerra walked and Red Sox No. 28 prospect Josh Tobias singled with two outs in the fifth, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound third baseman smacked the first pitch into left for a double that plated De La Guerra and tied the score, 1-1. 
"Having had those first couple of at-bats, I didn't want to change anything huge, I just wanted to stay consistent and stay within myself," Chavis said. "In the first-pitch double that I hit, I was trying to get a good pitch to drive. One of the things I was focusing on in my at-bats today was making sure to get a pitch to do damage with." 
In the seventh, Chavis fell behind 0-2 to lefty reliever James Reeves. After taking the third pitch off the outside edge, he ripped the next one into the left-field corner for his fourth two-out hit of the game. 
"With every pitch that goes by in an at-bat, whether swinging, taking, check swing or anything, I try to learn something, like the timing of the thing or the movement of the pitch or just how I see it," Chavis said. "I definitely was getting the timing down after those first two pitches.
"The second was a slider that I swung over, but I felt like I saw it well. That put me in comfortable position where I had seen his off-speed already. Then it was a fastball away for a ball, so I had a feeling he'd come back in with the slider again. I just told myself not to do too much, don't guess pitches and just stay where you're at." 
As his fourth professional season winds down, Chavis wants to keep learning. 
"I just want to finish on a high note,' he said. "I don't care about the statistics, I think that stuff gets overanalyzed. I just want to finish strong and I just want to leave a lasting impression that I had a good season.
"I don't want to sit on what I did at the beginning of the season and just say, 'I already did enough, I'm just going to be comfortable here.' I just want to finish as strong as I have been all year."
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Tobias, Henry Urrutia and Cole Sturgeon collected two hits apiece for the Sea Dogs. 
Jeff Hendrix had two hits and scored twice while No. 9 Yankees prospectNick Solak drilled an RBI single in the seventh that snapped the 1-1 tie.