River Cats' Vogt does it again

It was a case of deja vu all over again for Stephen Vogt.

The A's farmhand collected five hits, including a pair of homers, and drove in six runs on Friday night as Triple-A Sacramento cruised to an 18-7 romp over Salt Lake at Spring Mobile Ballpark.

Batting third in the lineup, Vogt put the River Cats in front with a two-run homer in the first inning. He singled and scored in a four-run third, then blasted a grand slam in the sixth that extended Sacramento's lead to 13-6. It was his 11th homer and second slam of the season.

"It was a good day," said Vogt, who scored four times. "Looking to come off a good win last night and I was able to get a home run in the first inning. I got some good pitches to hit, was able to lay off some tough pitches and able to stay within my approach and get five hits."

On April 14, the 28-year-old catcher posted an identical 5-for-6 line with two homers and six RBIs in a 22-6 thrashing of Reno. He's had three two-homer games this year, plating five runs on June 23 against Colorado Springs.

"It's kind of surreal," Vogt said. "The hard part about this game is you play every day and you don't know if you're going to go 0-for-4 or get five hits. To repeat that day, I thought about that after the game. It was great. It was a great night for the team and also a great night personally.

"It's always a great night when you have a multi-hit game, but to get five hits and six RBIs and two homers, you wish you could have a night like that every night. The cliche is true -- tomorrow's a new day, enjoy it for a little while tonight but be ready to go tomorrow."

Daric Barton was 3-for-4 with a homer, four RBIs and four runs scored for the River Cats, while A's No. 11 prospect Michael Taylor went yard and plated three runs. The outburst was not out of character for Sacramento, which is tied for the Pacific Coast League lead with 554 runs scored.

"I can't say enough about our lineup," Vogt said. "Whether it's young guys or guys that have been around a while, everybody contributes on a different night. When you're hitting in a lineup like this, one person gets the ball rolling and it's contagious. When we start to get on a roll, we don't stop, we don't let up."

Luis Rodriguez slugged a grand slam and Kole Calhoun added a two-run homer for the Bees.