Rainiers' Romero adjusting just fine

Stefen Romero tried to downplay his performance on Wednesday night. But he's quietly emerging as one of the top players in Seattle's Minor League system.

The Mariners' No. 9 prospect launched a pair of homers and drove in four runs to power Triple-A Tacoma to a 12-5 rout of Las Vegas at Cashman Field.

Romero finished 4-for-5 with four runs scored and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle. He smacked an RBI double in the fifth inning, slugged a two-run shot in the sixth and opened the ninth with his fifth Triple-A roundtripper to complete his first career two-homer game.

"Just trying to get into a positive count," Romero said. "I was ahead, 1-0, [in the sixth] and got a fastball and I didn't miss it. Second home run, working my way into a full count, fastball right down the middle and I put a good swing on it."

Romero, who had not homered since May 11, is batting .305 with 34 RBIs in 43 games his first season in the Pacific Coast League. He's been even better since May 27, batting .361 (22-for-61) with 15 RBIs in 14 contests.

"So far, so good," said Romero, a 2010 12th-round Draft pick out of Oregon State. "Making adjustments here and there, typical grind of a Minor League season. You want to make the waves as consistent as possible, just taking it day-by-day and hope everything shows up in your favor."

While he considers Wednesday his best game of the season, it came with a qualifier.

"It's Las Vegas, the ball carries well out here, and fortunately enough the team was swinging the bat really well," Romero said. "Luckily, it went my way as well."

Romero spent most of last season playing second base at Class A Advanced High Desert and Double-A Jackson. Given the glut of young infielders in the Mariners system, the club moved him to the outfield.

"It's going really smoothly," he said. "The transition from the infield to the outfield is, from what I've been told, is easier than outfield to infield. It's going really well, just have to work on the fundamentals every day."

Jason Jaramillo also went 4-for-5 and scored twice for the Rainiers, while Mariners No. 6 prospect Brad Miller extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI single in the first.

James Paxton, Seattle's fifth-ranked prospect, improved to 3-5 after giving up four runs -- three earned -- on nine hits over five innings for Tacoma.

Mets No. 7 prospect Wilmer Flores had two hits, including a two-run double, for Las Vegas.