Miller, Almonte line 'em up, knock 'em in

Brad Miller has only been with Triple-A Tacoma for a few days, but that's all it took for him to play a leading role in one of the biggest nights in recent team history.

The Mariners' No. 6 prospect went 3-for-7 with a homer, double and six RBIs in his fifth Pacific Coast League game on Wednesday night as the Rainiers rolled to 25-6 rout of Colorado Springs.

Eric Thames also drove in six runs and Abraham Almonte went 6-for-6 as part of a 30-hit assault as Tacoma scored more runs and strung together more hits than anytime since becoming a Seattle affiliate in 1995. The previous highs were 24 runs at Tucson on June 6, 2011, and 25 hits at Sacramento on June 28, 2004.

"That was good. It's been a crazy few days, really exciting. I'm glad to be up here and with all these guys, it felt good to contribute and add to all the runs," said Miller, who was promoted from Double-A Jackson on Friday. "That was fun. We had some guys really string together some good at-bats to keep it going, keep hitting and keep hitting as much as possible."

The 2011 second-round Draft pick hit .294/.379/.471 with six homers and 25 RBIs in 42 Southern League games before the promotion. He'd gone 2-for-13 in his first four games with the Rainiers before announcing his presence in a big way Wednesday. Miller plated a run with a fielder's choice in the first inning, delivered a two-run double in the fifth and slugged a three-run homer in the sixth.

"It's exciting," he said. "When I got called up, I was obviously thrilled to be here and my mind-set was kind of, 'I'm starting over again, I wanna earn the respect of my teammates and contribute any way I can.' And whenever everybody's clicking like that, you can pass it off to the next guy and everybody's got their best swing."

Behind Miller in the ninth spot in the lineup was Almonte, his teammate for most of the season in Jackson. The 23-year-old center fielder scored four times and drove in two runs in the Rainiers' first six-hit game since Jerry Owens was 6-for-7 on Aug. 25, 2009 against Fresno.

"Watching Abe Almonte hit behind me and get on base every time was something," Miller said. "He did everything -- put it in the gap, nice swings the other way. I got to play with him in Jackson, too, and what a great guy, great teammate, a guy you want out there every day. To see him put on a clinic like that was cool."

It was another highlight for Almonte, hit for the cycle for the Generals on April 27. He raised his average to .515 in 12 games with Tacoma.

"It was good, everyone swinging the bats well," Almonte said. "I was seeing the ball good and just got some good pitches."

Thames was 4-for-7 with a double and a run scored, while Dustin Ackley -- in his second game after being demoted by the Mariners -- went 5-for-6 with a home, three RBIs and four runs scored.

Nate Tenbrink matched Thames with four hits, including a homer and two doubles, driving in four runs.