Asencio's huge night carries Missions

Yeison Asencio couldn't stay off the basepaths even if he wanted to on Friday night.

The Padres prospect went 5-for-6 with two homers, five RBIs and three runs scored and even managed to reach base on an error the one time he didn't record a hit. He paced a 22-hit attack as Double-A San Antonio crushed Northwest Arkansas, 12-0.

"He was able to stay back tonight," Missions hitting coach Francisco Morales said. "He's been working his butt off, trying to get his timing and trying to stay back, especially on breaking balls and off-speed pitches.

"The San Diego Padres organization, we believe in him and we believe in his tools. He finally put it together tonight. It was fun to watch."

That Asencio's breakout evening bumped his batting average up to .230 shows how much he's struggled this season. In 45 games, he has three homers, 10 RBIs and a .593 OPS.

Those early-season woes excused themselves on Friday.

The 24-year-old outfielder singled to center and scored in the first innings before reaching on Naturals shortstop Orlando Calixte's error in the second. Two innings later, his night started its turn toward the spectacular.

After receiving a lot of first-pitch breaking balls from Northwest Arkansas pitchers in the first two games of the Texas League series, Asencio was expecting another when he stepped in with two on and one out and the Missions up, 4-0.

"If he hangs it, I'm going to put a good swing on it," he said before the at-bat, according to Morales.

"He was sitting on it," the hitting coach continued. "The pitcher hung it and he put a good swing on it."

Asencio cranked a three-run shot to left field that made it 7-0. It was his second homer of the year and first since May 5.

The native of the Dominican Republic led off the sixth with another roundtripper to left, this time on an 0-1 count.

"I was real happy for him. It was nice to see," Morales said. "We spend a lot of time in the cage trying to get things right for him. It feels good as a hitting coach to see a kid have some success on the field, definitely feels good."

Over his final two at-bats, Asencio singled on a liner to center in the seventh and reached on an infield hit in the eighth. He tied his career high in hits and set a new one for RBIs while recording his second Minor League multi-homer game. He also homered twice for Class A Fort Wayne on June 11, 2012, for Class A Fort Wayne.

That year, Asencio batted .323/.353/.474 in 92 games. He split last season between Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore and San Antonio, posting a .277/.307/.401 slash line over 131 games.

If Friday was any indication, his game is headed in the right direction.

"He started off slow. He was trying to figure things out," Morales said. "But he knows what he's capable of. He knows his strengths and his weaknesses. Like I said, he's been working and spending time in the cage and going over pitchers and how they approach his at-bats every night and how they try to get him out. Tonight, he got some pitches to hit and put good swings on them."

Rymer Liriano, the Padres' No. 6 prospect, and Jason Hagerty each collected four hits, while Reymond Fuentes smacked a two-run homer.

Josh Geer (2-5) allowed three hits over six innings and combined with Jeff Ibarra and Adys Portillo on the Missions' third shutout of the season.

Calixte, the Royals' ninth-ranked prospect, had three of the Naturals' five hits.