Higashioka delivers gifts on mom's birthday

With Father's Day rapidly approaching, Minor League players are likely thinking about what to get their dads. On Friday, Kyle Higashioka was too busy giving his mom a birthday gift she'll probably never forget.

In his 11th game with Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes/Barre, the 26-year-old catcher went 3-for-4 with two homers, a career-high five RBIs and three runs scored as the RailRiders beat Columbus, 10-7. While it was the first two-homer game of Higashioka's nine-year Minor League career, that wasn't the best part.

"I haven't hit that many home runs over the span of my career -- it was easy to keep track of that," said the California native, who has hit 37 long balls in 454 Minor League games. "It was definitely a great feeling, especially on my mom's birthday. She put in a request for me to maybe hit one out."

Higashioka made good on that request, hitting a two-run homer to left field in the sixth inning and following that up with a three-run blast over the left-center field wall at Huntington Park in the seventh. He got himself into two-strike counts in each of his first three at-bats, popping out to short in the first and singling to left in the fourth before showing off his power against Columbus starter Ryan Merritt.

"[He] was a lefty. ... I had a good at-bat against him in my second at-bat with a single," Higashioka said. "I'd seen him before and knew he wasn't going to overpower me with anything, so I had a solid middle-of-the-field approach. When I saw the fastball out of his hand, I was able to just react to it."

Merritt lasted two more batters before getting the hook, and Higashioka came up with two on and two outs in the seventh against right-hander Josh Martin. The 2008 seventh-round pick watched two balls and a strike before crushing the fourth pitch over the fence for his fifth homer in 11 Triple-A games.

"That one was [off] a righty throwing pretty hard, and he had a cutter," he said. "Obviously, righty-righty isn't really something you like to see, and when he got down, 2-0, I was expecting him to get me to roll over with something not straight. Luckily, I was glad he threw me the fastball, 2-1; I think he missed his spot, it ended up being middle-in."

After posting a .286/.341/.420 slash line in 32 games with Double-A Trenton, Higashioka went 0-for-4 in his RailRiders debut but has hit safely in his last 10 contest. He's 18-for-39 during the streak with 13 RBIs, 11 runs scored and nine extra-base hits, and the 6-foot-1, 200-pound backstop credited his torrid stretch to some offseason adjustments.

"This year I'm a little better at hitting off-speed pitches," he said. "It's not so much me having to look for one pitch anymore just because I had some adjustments to my swing over the offseason that have allowed me to hit off-speed pitches much better. Just trying to consistently hit the ball hard and stay off the ground.

"I have very little speed, so hitting the ball on the ground isn't going to be too successful for me. Just trying to hit the ball hard on a line or in the air has been my goal this year, and it's been going pretty well."

While Higashioka's promotion to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre came one day after Yankees' No. 3 prospect Gary Sanchez was placed on the disabled list with a fractured right thumb, he hasn't felt any pressure to produce like his counterpart, who slashed .290/.333/.529 in 147 plate appearances before the injury.

"That really didn't come into play in my mind," Higashioka said. "I kind of learned over the years that it's just about doing whatever you can do. What other people do, you can't really control that, and you can't try to be someone that you're not. I just kept focusing on doing my thing and it's working out right now."

He's certainly making the most of his opportunity to play a level away from the Majors every day, although Higashioka said this particular game was extra special for him and his mother.

"We've texted and I'm about to call her," he said. "She told me she was really ecstatic and I think her brother -- my uncle -- was on the phone with her when I hit the second one, so that was pretty cool."

RailRiders left fielder Cesar Puello had four hits, including two doubles, and two RBIs, which came after Clippers reliever Ben Heller fell behind Higashioka, 2-0, and intentionally walked him to load the bases with nobody out. First baseman Tyler Austin added three hits and scored twice.

Johnny Barbato (1-2) picked up the win in relief despite allowing two runs -- one earned -- on two hits and two walks over two innings. He struck out three.

Ronny Rodriguez had two hits and two RBIs for Columbus.