Lugnuts' Alford clears mind, ends slump

Mired in an 0-for-15 slump, Anthony Alford turned to a three-time Silver Slugger.

With help from former Major Leaguer Carlos Delgado, the Blue Jays' No. 18 prospect went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored Tuesday night as Class A Lansing cruised to a 13-3 victory over Bowling Green at Cooley Law School Stadium.

"He just told me, 'Don't think about anything mechanical, just go up there and think about hitting the ball hard. Just relax, don't worry about the results,'" Alford said of Delgado. "He was a big help tonight as far as helping me clear my head."

After the 20-year-old outfielder talked with the Blue Jays roving coach on Monday, he led off the first inning with a double to center for his first hit since June 10. Alford kept it going an RBI single in the second and another base hit in the fourth, then slapped his first triple of the season to plate a run in the sixth.

"Most of my hits, except for one, were in two-strike counts. That's one thing Carlos said, to try to stay out of two-strike counts, be aggressive on the fastball early in the count," he said. "So that's what I did in my third at-bat. They threw me a lot of curveballs and I just pretty much reacted to it later in the count."

Alford tied his career high for hits in a game, established last July 4. After the Mississippi native tripled, Lugnuts manager Kenny Huckaby came up to him with a message: Don't try for the cycle.

Knowing it's never good to try to hit a home run, Alford kept with his clear-minded approach as he stepped to the plate in the eighth. The right-handed hitter fouled out to first base.

"I wasn't trying to [hit for the cycle], so I wasn't real mad about it," he said. "I'm just glad I was able to put at-bats together consistently throughout the game and I'll just try to carry it into tomorrow."

After hitting .307 in the first two months of the season, Alford entered Tuesday's game with a .229 average in June. While the 2012 third-round pick had been slumping, he leads the Midwest League with 45 runs scored.

"When I struggle, it's more like I'm fighting myself. It's like mind games for me whenever I start struggling as opposed to going out there and just playing and reacting and letting my ability take over," he said. "I honestly just try to get my mind off of baseball, so I read my book and listened to music earlier during the day."

Chris Carlson fell a double shy of the cycle, going 4-for-5, while Jason Leblebijian clubbed two homers to keep the Lugnuts atop the Eastern Division.

"[The offense] was real good. I feel like we came out and saw the ball, just being aggressive on the fastball," Alford said. "We want [to clinch] really bad, you can tell the team want it really bad, so we're just trying to finish strong in these next five games."

Lugnuts starter Starlyn Suriel (5-3) scattered six hits over six scoreless innings, striking out one and walking one.

Bowling Green counterpart Chris Pike (6-2) was roughed up for seven runs on 12 hits and a walk while fanning three in 5 2/3 innings.