Blaze's Fields slams way to career night

Though Arby Fields has been mostly accustomed to batting at the top of the order in his professional career, the view from the bottom suited him beautifully Thursday.

The Seattle outfield prospect belted a grand slam and a triple while driving in a career-high six runs. He led his team's latest offensive outburst from the No. 8 spot in the order as Class A Advanced Bakersfield thrashed High Desert, 17-2, to complete a three-game series sweep.

"It was just one of those days, man," Fields said. "We got a lot of good pitches to hit. We have a really good team here, and we've kind of been up and down this year in parts, wins and losses. ... It was one of those nights where everything clicked for us."

Things were especially clicking at the bottom of the lineup where Fields and No. 9 hitter Gianfranco Wawoe combined to go 7-for-9 with two homers, a triple, a double and nine of their team's RBIs.

"I've played with him the last two years at (Rookie-level) Pulaski and in (Class A ) Clinton," the left fielder said of Wawoe. "We're used to being 1-2 or I hit second and Wawoe hits third. It's a different perspective, but it just goes to show what kind of team we have here. There are no easy outs in this lineup."

Fields sparked the Blaze in the top of the second sedond when he clubbed a bases-loaded 3-1 offering from High Desert starter Cole Wiper over the right-field wall for his first career grand slam.

"There was nowhere to put me, so once the count was 3-1, he wasn't trying to walk me or give me something good to hit," he said. "I was just trying to get something in the air for a sac fly or something like that so I can cash in that run. I put a good swing on it, and it seemed like the ball just didn't stop going."

The milestone was just the start of a career-best night for Fields. The outfielder poked an RBI single to right in the third and then laced a triple to right with two outs in the seventh. Coming to the plate with the bases loaded again in the ninth, Fields capped his night with a walk to drive in his final run.

"To be honest with you, I didn't really know until one of my teammates said, 'Man, you've got to have a career high in RBIs,'" he said. "I didn't really know how many I had at that moment, but it was just one of those things where we talk about executing a plan when you come up to the plate. I was just trying to come up and put the ball in play, get the next guy up there."

Bakersfield's Jay Baum and Kyle Petty, batting third and cleanup, combined for five hits and five RBIs.

"We had our guy on the mound, and from 1-9, everything we squared up just found a hole," Fields said.

That "guy" was No. 10 Mariners prospect Andrew Moore, who turned in his latest quality start. Over six innings, Moore allowed two runs on four hits and a walk while striking seven to improve to 3-1.

"One thing about that kid, he's not scared," said Fields, who faced Oregon State product Moore while he was at LSU. "He pitches like he's 6-foot-5 and he's not afraid of anybody. He goes after guys and sets the tempo.

"You know what you're going to get from him every night. You know he's going to throw stuff and keep the game moving and compete. With guys like that, I can speak for everybody -- we love playing defense behind him. You want to make plays. You want to make outs for that guy because he's going to give you everything he has."

The Blaze crushed the Mavericks in the three-game series by a combined score of 39-8, despite entering the set at 14-23 vs. High Desert's 26-12 mark.

"You're trying to find your identity as a team and you're coming in facing a team that's at the top of the league," Fields said. "You're on the road and it's basically like everything is against you. There's really nothing to lose here. Go out and play our game, play to the best of our abilities and let the chips fall where they may. Nobody was expecting us to come in and do what we did in this series. We knew that we're capable of doing what we did.

"Hopefully we carry it over to the next series and the rest of the year."