O's Palmeiro goes yard twice, collects four RBIs

It may seem like Preston Palmeiro just found his power stroke earlier this week. In fact, he's finally seeing the fruits of a lengthy period of steady progress in his first full Minor League season.
"I don't think it's been the last 72 hours, but it has been a gradual thing since coming into the month," the Orioles prospect said. "I try to take it day by day, and every day has been a little bit better. I started feeling like I was driving the ball again, and the last few games I've gotten the results." 
On Wednesday, Palmeiro recorded his first multi-homer performance as a pro, going 3-for-5 with two jacks, a double and four RBIs to lead Class A Delmarva to a 10-6 victory at Hagerstown.

Gameday box score
The 22-year-old first baseman and son of four-time Major League All-Star Rafael Palmeiro entered the week with three homers in 43 games, but he's hit three in a three-game span that started Monday. He's also boosted his average 58 points from the end of April to .255.
"It's a long season -- everybody says that. It's hard not to get too frustrated with a tough month, but that's why we play every day. I came out of it, and to be able to cap it off like that is really special," he said, noting that his father helped him out of the slump. "He came up toward end of the first month and watched me play. We talked. I talk to him every day, every night. He asks me how I feel and we talk about the game. He's an unbelievable resource."
The left-handed hitter started Wednesday with an opposite-field double off Suns starter A.J. Bogucki in the first inning, but it wasn't exactly a screaming liner.

"I got lucky right there," Palmeiro admitted. "It was a good pitch that I kind of got jammed on. It fell in for me and I got a double out of it. Sometimes when things are going your way, those fall in for you. When things are going bad, somebody catches those."
Facing Sam Held with one on and nobody out in the sixth, the North Carolina State product clubbed a 1-0 fastball over the wall in left-center field.
"When I'm driving the ball to left-center, that's when I know it's really going well. I'm on the ball," he said. "I got the pitch I was looking for and I was able to drive it. When I'm doing that, I know I'm lined up -- I'm on the fastball, and if they throw me something off-speed, I'm on it.
Palmeiro gave Delmarva a couple insurance runs in the ninth, knocking the first offering he saw from Kyle Simonds out of the yard to right.
"I got it pretty good. I'd faced the same pitcher a couple innings before and he came at me with fastballs and struck me out. I went up there looking for it, and he made a mistake," he said.
"It was a good feeling because it's the ninth inning, Jake Ring had just hit a home run and [Chris Clare] followed with] a hit. It was more momentum for us. It extended the lead and gave us some insurance runs we needed. It was better being up 10-5 instead of 7-5, to pull away a little bit, because they started to fight back and got [a] run in the ninth."
Francisco Jimenez (3-0) got the win in relief, yielding a run on three hits and three walks with two strikeouts in three innings. Shorebirds starter Jhon Peluffo was charged with five runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and two walks while fanning three over five frames.
Telmito Agustin, the Nationals' No. 26 prospect, was 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and a stolen base for the Suns.