RubberDucks' Bradley homers three times

The peaks are getting higher and the valleys lower for Bobby Bradley, who appears to have found a comfort level in his first Double-A campaign.
The Indians' fourth-ranked prospect homered on the first pitch of each of his final three at-bats and drove in a season-high seven runs Tuesday as Akron defeated Erie, 10-4, at Canal Park. 

Gameday box score
The home run trifecta was the first by an Akron player since Matt McBridewent deep three times for the Aeros on July 1, 2010. It was Bradley's second multi-homer game this month and the sixth of his career. He blasted a pair of roundtrippers against New Hampshire on June 10.
After a slow start to the season, the 21-year-old is hitting .301 with seven homers and 22 RBIs in 24 games in June.

"He's been working really hard with [hitting coach] Johnny Narron and [bench coach] Omir Santos in the batting cage," RubberDucks manager Mark Budzinski said. "He's developing a solid routine, which has helped him get on time and ready to hit. That's helped him see the ball better and put good swings on the balls he wants to it. It's exciting to see." 
Bradley grounded out to first base in each of his first two at-bats before starting his own Home Run Derby. The Mississippi native launched a solo shot to right field with one out in the sixth and connected on a three-run blast to right in the seventh. With the RubberDucks up three in the eighth, he put the game out of reach with another three-run homer to right. 

The seven RBIs were one shy of his career high, set on Aug. 16, 2014 in the Rookie-level Arizona League. The 6-foot-1, 225-pounder leads the RubberDucks with 48 RBIs while his 14 homers are three behind Indians 10th-ranked prospect Yu-Cheng Chang for the team lead.
"Stepping up to Double-A from [Class A Advanced], to me, is the biggest jump," Budzinski said. "He needed to make the adjustments because pitchers saw that he would chase out of the zone early on. To his credit, he's adjusted and not gone out of the zone nearly as much. A big part of his goal as a hitter is to take his walks if they won't pitch to him but also to be ready to hit if it's in his zone. It's a credit to him to see the hard work he's done."
The slugging first baseman smacked 56 homers over the last two seasons with Class A Lake County and Class A Advanced Lynchburg. He struggled out of the gate with Akron, hitting .176/.318/.412 in April, but is batting .286 with nine homers and 34 RBIs since May 1 to bring his average up to a season-high .254.

"I've been with him for the last year and a half, so I know him well," the RubberDucks' skipper said. "He's a confident young man whose confidence has never wavered. He'll work at something until he figures it out.  He's got a bright future and can drive the ball out of the park line to line. There aren't many guys who can do that. He's put up some good numbers the last few years and it's continuing this season." 
Eric Haase had two hits, including his 13th homer that followed Bradley's long ball in the seventh. Robbie Aviles (4-1) allowed two hits and struck out one in two innings of scoreless relief to earn the win.
Tigers No. 2 prospectChristin Stewart went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI for Erie.