Lugnuts' Tellez homers on four-hit night

Rowdy Tellez has struck out in more than one quarter of his Midwest League at-bats this season. But for one night, he can forget about the growing pains that accompany moving up a level and bask in the glow of a career night at the plate.

Batting cleanup and playing first base, Tellez went 4-for-5 with a homer, three doubles, three RBIs and a pair of runs scored in Class A Lansing's 6-4 road win over South Bend.

"The numbers show it went pretty well," said Tellez, the Blue Jays' No. 23 prospect. "We ended up winning and that's all that matters. It doesn't matter if one guy does well and we don't win. I was seeing the ball well and getting into hitter's counts and being ready to attack my pitch and being on time every at-bat."

The 20-year-old doubled to right field in the first inning but was thrown out at the plate trying to score from third after D.J. Davis flied to center. He doubled home a run in the third, homered to right in the seventh and doubled to center in the eighth.

The four hits tied a career high, set for Rookie-level Bluefield against Bristol last Aug 2, while the three doubles and 10 total bases were personal bests. Tellez fell short of matching his high of five RBIs, achieved with the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays on Aug. 29, 2013.

"[The home run] was on a 3-1 count and I was just looking for a pitch I could handle in one spot and one spot only," said Tellez, who also flied to center in the fifth. "I got that pitch. It wasn't anything special, but I stuck to my approach as a hitter and I got a fastball middle-in. It was where I was looking.

"I went through the same routine and same preparation as I always do, so there's not something different that I did tonight. Just one of those days where I felt good at the plate and everything went well."

Selected in the 30th round of the 2013 Draft, Tellez hit .305 with six homers and 43 RBIs in 65 games between Rookie-level Bluefield and Lansing last season. In his professional debut the previous year, the California native batted .234 with 20 RBIs in 34 games with the Blue Jays' GCL affiliate.

On the positive side, Tellez leads the Midwest League with 15 extra-base hits and ranks second with 62 runs scored, four behind West Michigan's Michael Gerber. Tellez also is tied for third with five homers and 22 RBIs. The bad news is Tellez, who's hitting .291 on the season, has 32 strikeouts against 11 walks in 122 at-bats. That's almost as many punchouts (37) as he registered in 65 games last season.

"It has gone really well," Tellez said of moving up to the Midwest League. "Obviously, everybody can see the strikeouts are up ... but we're winning as a team and playing well as a team, so I can't really complain too much. If I knew [why], then I could change it. I think it's just not being ready in certain counts and sometimes being overaggressive and anticipating a pitch instead of waiting to see it.

"It can definitely hurt you, but it can also help you in certain situations. I'm not the type of hitter that will cut down on the swing because of certain things going on because I'm still being productive and helping the team win."

Lansing starter Shane Dawson (4-2) allowed two runs on four hits while striking out six over six innings.

South Bend's Erick Leal (3-1) gave up four runs on nine hits over five frames, walking one and striking out two. Gleyber Torres was 3-for-4 to lift his average to .336.