Moran, Kemp lead way at plate for Fresno

A new position in the field and a relatively new spot in the lineup didn't faze Colin Moran on Monday night. Lately, it seems very little does.
Houston's No. 24 prospect continued a solid June by matching a career high with five RBIs and leadoff man Tony Kemp added four singles and two runs as Triple-A Fresno beat El Paso, 10-4, at Chukchansi Park.

"He's looking for his pitch and he's not missing it," Grizzlies hitting coach Darryl Robinson said of Moran, who posted his sixth multi-hit game of the month. "That's very important. If you're swinging at a lot of pitchers' pitches, it's tough to get that big hit. You may get a base hit here and there, but you're not going to get the big hit. That's what he's doing. He's staying convicted with his approach, and he's getting after the good pitches."

After Kemp opened Fresno's night with a single to center field in the bottom of the first inning, Moran drove him and Tyler White in with a two-run single to center. In the fourth, with Kemp aboard after his third hit to center, Moran powered a three-run homer out to right-center. The shot was his seventh this month, already two more than his May total in two fewer games, and the 24-year-old has plated 18 runs over his last nine games.
A third baseman in his natural position, Moran was in left field for just the fourth time this season and batting cleanup for the fifth time, but thrived in his 2-for-4 performance.
"That's just the type of guy he is," Robinson said. "He's going to take it one step at a time, no matter where he's playing. [If he's] DH-ing, playing third, playing left field, it doesn't matter. It's not going to affect him one way or another, especially at the plate. In the outfield earlier in the season, he had some struggles out there, but he's figured that out. He's doing well."
Gameday box score
Though limited in sample sizes, Moran is batting .476/.500/.952 with three homers and 13 RBIs in five games as the Grizzlies' cleanup hitter and .308/.357/.769 with two jacks and seven RBIs in 13 at-bats as the left fielder.
"If you can play more than one position, you create value for yourself, and then if you can hit also, you create even more value for yourself," Robinson said. "He knows that. He knows that he needs to be able to play a few different positions to get that bat in the lineup at third base, first base, outfield. In Spring Training, he even played some shortstop.
"That's where value comes in, and that's important nowadays in this game."
Moran didn't notch any other hits, but Kemp wasn't done. The second baseman added his fourth hit of the night on a two-out single to center in the fifth. The top four hitters in Fresno's lineup -- Kemp, White, Preston Tucker and Moran -- combined to go 10-for-18 with two homers, eight runs scored and seven RBIs.

"If you can get a couple guys hitting, everybody's going to hit," Robinson said. "It's contagious, especially when you're getting guys on base. Tony can steal a base, so the pitchers are going to be more careful if he's on first base. They may groove something or may walk a guy, and then you have two guys on base. Then you have Tucker coming up, and it may be the same thing right there.

"It's all about getting good pitches to hit."
Monday's four-hit night marked Kemp's fifth straight multi-hit contest and ran his overall hitting streak to 10 straight. After batting .297 with a .680 OPS in 17 April games, Kemp bumped those numbers to .301 and .829 in 25 games last month. In June, he's been even better with a .351 average and .839 OPS in 12 contests.
"He's got some work to do," Robinson said. "I would like to see him see more pitches in the game, but he's taken on that leadoff spot pretty well. He's working counts better than he was at the beginning of the year. He's getting his pitches."
San Diego's No. 9 prospectCarlos Asuaje went 2-for-4 with a home run for El Paso.