Adams homers twice, plates five

When you're batting well over .300, as Cardinals No. 8 prospect Matt Adams is, you seek out the little things that will keep you going in the right direction. Call it a proactive practice.

For Adams, this meant sitting down with Memphis Redbirds batting coach Mark Budaska this week to discuss a flaw in his at-bat mechanics.

"The last couple of games, I felt like I was rushing my load. We sat down, talked and saw that was the case," Adams said. "My feet were moving too quick [when] I load up in my swing. I just kind of slowed everything down."

His bat appeared to speed up.

Adams went 4-for-5 at the plate with two homers and five RBIs -- both season highs -- on Friday night in the Redbirds' 9-6 road win over the Las Vegas 51s.

Adams won an 11-pitch battle by smacking a first-inning solo shot off Tim Redding.

"I took the first pitch, swung through a changeup and I was down 0-2 and battled back saw the ball really good," Adams said. "I fouled off the pitches I couldn't drive and then got a slider."

The burly left-handed-hitting slugger overcame another early 0-2 count to smack a fastball, discarding another ball over the right-center field fence.

"It was a fastball down and in," said Adams, a first baseman. "He blew me away the first two pitches and I was just getting ready for the fastball."

Wait. Getting ready for a fastball on an 0-2 count?

"I always sit fastball and then I adjust," the 2009 23rd-round Draft pick said after his first multi-homer game at the Triple-A level. "I'm an aggressive hitter getting pitching out over the plate."

Adams also singled in the third, flied out in the sixth and doubled to center in the eighth. As a result, he's batting .338 with 18 extra-base hits through his first 36 games in the Pacific Coast League.

So what is left to work on?

"Definitely letting the off-speed pitches, a backdoor slider or changeup, come in," Adams said. "I'm catching those out front and hitting lazy fly balls. Though I had a double on one tonight, so that was nice to see."

Travis d'Arnaud and Anthony Gose, the Blue Jays' top two prospects, respectively, also enjoyed big games.

A catcher and cleanup hitter, d'Arnaud cranked solo homers in the first and fifth off Memphis starter Brian Broderick. It also was d'Arnaud's first multi-homer game in the PCL.

"He's a great hitter," Adams said. "A lot of great hitters on their team. With Travis, especially, even when he's taking pitches he's in a good position to hit."

Batting leadoff, Gose doubled and tripled against Broderick, scoring twice. The strong-armed center fielder also collected an assist throwing out Zack Cox at the plate for the final out in the seventh inning.

Broderick (2-5) was charged with six runs on eight hits over five frames.

Redding gave up three runs on six hits over three innings before giving way to the 51s' bullpen.