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Van Slyke homers in third straight game

Dodgers prospect hits solo shot, plates two in Isotopes' win
May 6, 2012
For Scott Van Slyke, this is beginning to look like riding a bike.

The Dodgers' No. 18 prospect smacked a solo home -- his third straight game with a longball -- on Saturday night to power the Albuquerque Isotopes to a 4-2 win over the Nashville Sounds.

Batting cleanup, the reigning Southern League batting champion led off the bottom of the second inning by lifting Mark Rogers' 2-1 pitch over the left-field fence. He also drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth, giving him eight RBIs in his last three games.

Van Slyke began his binge Thursday in the Isotopes' series finale with the Oklahoma City RedHawks when he hit a solo shot off Sergio Perez and a two-run homer off Adalberto Flores in a 15-5 romp.

In Friday's series opener against Nashville, Van Slyke belted a two-run blast off starter Seth McClung in an 8-1 victory. The Isotopes are 4-3 when the eight-year Minor League veteran goes deep.

The 25-year-old son of former big league All-Star Andy Van Slyke had not homered in three consecutive games since June 26-28, 2010 with Class A Advanced Inland Empire. Over that three-day period in the California League, he also totaled eight RBIs.

The 2005 14th-round Draft pick leads the Pacific Coast League with eight homers, ranks second with 72 total bases and is tied for fourth with 23 RBIs. Through 29 games, he's batting .339.

Van Slyke is stroking a homer once every 14 at-bats, well ahead of his pace for the 2009 (once every 22 at-bats), 2010 (32 at-bats) and 2011 (23 at-bats) seasons. Last year, he hit 20 while batting .348 at Double-A Chattanooga.

Rogers, the fifth overall pick in the 2004 Draft, yielded two runs on three hits over six innings.

Isotopes starter John Ely gave up two runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 frames. Wil Ledezma (1-2) pitched a perfect eighth for the win and Josh Wall worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save.

Andrew Pentis is a contributor to MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at AndrewMiLB.