Kepler homers twice with father in crowd

With Max Kepler's father visiting from Germany, the Twins' No. 7 prospect has been putting on a show. Halfway through his second home run trot Thursday evening, it occurred to him the show might have too good of an opening act.

"When I hit second [base], I thought to myself, 'It's good timing he's here right now,'" said the Berlin native. "And I remember I thought to myself, 'I better save a couple. He's going to be here for two weeks. Maybe I need to slow it down.'"

After homering on dad Marek Rozyck's birthday Wednesday, Kepler's fifth and sixth dingers of the year came during a 3-for-4 performance in Double-A Chattanooga's 3-0 win over visiting Pensacola. The outfielder born Maximilian Kepler-Rozycki has hit safely in seven consecutive games.

"It feels really good," he said. "I'm really glad it's all coming together [with my dad in town]. He got here just three days ago, so it's kind of a big deal."

The 22-year-old has recorded multiple hits in 11 games since June 15 and leads the Southern League with a .337 average, a .414 on-base percentage and a .971 OPS. Those aren't numbers he's given much thought to.

"I see every now and then on Twitter. I'm just trying to see the 'W' after each game," Kepler said. "If I go 0-for-4 on a night, the next day I stick with the same mentality from the game before. I'm trying to be more consistent and not let my emotions get the better of me. But I haven't made any mechanical adjustments. I'm just thankful I'm still seeing the baseball well."

All of Kepler's hits Thursday came against Blue Wahoos starter Josh Smith, beginning with a first-inning infield hit that almost didn't count.

"It was a hard-hit line drive at the shortstop [Zach Vincej] to his backhand side," he said. "It bounced up on him and went over from him. It wasn't like I beat it out, but more like it got away from him. They gave it an error at first, but they changed it once we took the field. I was relieved to see that."

Smith's fifth pitch against Kepler in the third ended up on the other side of the fence in left field.

"I knew [Smith's] been in the big leagues, and from analyzing him before the game, I knew he was not going to throw me fastballs right over the plate," Kepler said. "Surprisingly, both my home runs came with two strikes. I was just trying to get the bat head on the ball and think small, and I ended up with home runs."

After lining out to second base in the fifth, Kepler again saw five pitches from Smith in the eighth and again deposited the final one over the wall in left.

"Off the bat, I knew it had the distance, but it was right on the foul line, so I had to wait for the umpire," he said. "It barely stayed fair, so I was relieved when he called it."

Jason Wheeler, Minnesota's No. 27 prospect, allowed five hits while striking out six over eight innings, improving to 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA since coming to the circuit from the International League on June 29.

"Whenever anyone's throwing a gem like Wheeler did today, we're trying to support him," Kepler said. "We wanted to get some run support going. At the same time, on defense we can't take anything for granted."