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White overshoots cycle with pair of blasts

Astros prospect plates career-high six runs in third multi-homer game
August 27, 2014

Lancaster first baseman Tyler White put a charge into a curveball and, immediately, he heard a chorus of voices shouting from his own dugout.

"Get on your horse, Whitey!" they said.

The 225-pound corner infielder took off for first base with his third career triple in mind. Instead, the ball kept traveling, carrying over the right-center field fence for a two-run homer.

White said afterwards that he was hoping for a cycle but had no complaints after jacking a pair of homers and driving in a career-high six runs on Tuesday night as Class A Advanced Lancaster rallied for a 12-5 win at High Desert.

The Astros prospect finished 4-for-5 with four runs scored.

"We were joking about it in the dugout a bit," White said. "I'm not really a triples kind of guy, don't run that fast.

"I hit it to right field and I was running hard, hoping it'd hit off the fence, but it actually went over. If it would've hit the fence, I would've gone for the triple, but I was happy with that, too."

The two-homer game was White's third this season and first with the JetHawks. The 23-year-old had a pair of two-homer efforts with Class A Quad Cities in June.

White's first homer was a two-run shot in the sixth inning that scored Astros No. 9 prospect Rio Ruiz. Earlier in the at-bat, first baseman Zach Shank dropped White's foul pop.

"It got to 3-2 and I fouled three pitches off," White said. "He kept throwing fastballs and left one over the middle I could hit. I just kind of got it out to right-center."

After singling and scoring in the eighth, White came to the plate in the ninth, knowing he needed a three-bagger for his first pro cycle. The Western Carolina University product overshot his mark -- and the right-field wall.

White said the opposite-field homers on Tuesday were his first two of the season. He has 14 roundtrippers across the two levels, including seven with the JetHawks.

Hitting in the cleanup spot, he lifted a sacrifice fly to center in his first at-bat and doubled in another run in the third.

White struggled after a July promotion from the Midwest League, hitting .154 with one homer in his first 11 games. He's batted .275 with six homers in 26 games since the slump.

The North Carolina native attributed his early struggles to the California League's offensive reputation and its effect on his psyche.

"The wind kind of played with my head as far as trying to hit home runs and trying to do more with power," White said. "Since, I've gotten back into my own swing. I'm doing my old thing, hitting the way I've always hit when I've been successful, getting me back to where my swing needs to be."

Ruiz finished 2-for-3 with three walks, three runs and two RBIs to lift his average to .299.

Jake Seiner is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Seiner.