Rainiers' Zunino homers in fourth straight

Mike Zunino's fourth straight Major League training camp was nothing like the three that preceded it.

"I wasn't going out there full-go trying to stress myself out trying to make the team," he said. "I just wanted to go out there and improve so when the season came around I would be able to hit the ground running."

The Mariners catcher has done all that and more in the season's first two weeks.

Zunino went 3-for-6, homered in his fourth straight game and fell a triple shy of the cycle Sunday as Triple-A Tacoma outlasted Albuquerque, 10-7, in 11 innings at Isotopes Park.

The 2012 first-round pick has hit safely in all eight games this season with three straight multi-hit efforts. He's second in the Pacific Coast League with a .441 batting average.

"Just continuing to try and stick to my approach," Zunino said. "That's been a big focus for me, trying to get back to feeling comfortable at the plate. I'm trying to stick to my approach as much as I can. There's still some work to be done, but it's nice to be able to see some results and have some hits fall in there."

Power always came easily to the University of Florida product, who's smashed 31 homers in 114 Minor League games and 38 in 295 games in the Majors. He needed to improve his consistency, however, after posting a .193/.252/.353 slash line in Seattle last season. And the 25-year-old carried that mandate back to the PCL.

"I want to be consistent every at-bat in terms of my approach and having a quality at-bat, and it's been nice to have that," Zunino said. "Obviously, there's some at-bats that you give away, but I think the key is limiting those, and that's what I'm putting the focus on."

Encouraged by the early returns, he said he sees more than just a sterling .441/.444/.882 slash line in his performance.

"I think every at-bat that I view as a quality at-bat helps the confidence out. That's all I'm trying to do," he said. "If I get four at-bats and they're all quality at-bats, whether it's a hit or not, I just want to be a productive player. So if I can go out and evaluate my day on having good at-bats, the confidence is just continuing to climb."

More importantly, Zunino is enjoying himself again.

"I had a great conversation with [Mariners manager] Scott Servais and a couple other guys, and they were telling me to be myself and have fun. And that takes a big weight off your shoulders when you're having a couple years like I've had," he said. "You sort of step back, look what was good when you were going well and get back to that."

Like Zunino, Rainiers shortstop Chris Taylor was 3-for-6 and fell a homer shy of the cycle. Ed Lucas broke a 7-7 tie in the top of the 11th with a three-run double off reliever Nelson Gonzalez (0-2).

Justin De Fratus (1-0) got the win after allowing one hit over three scoreless frames. Blake Parker fanned one in a perfect 11th for his third save.