Monday's best: Verdugo's hot streak continues

August 15th, 2017

Alex Verdugo's hot streak continued as he hit his sixth homer of the season and drove in three runs in Triple-A Oklahoma City's 9-4 win over Round Rock on Monday night.
The Dodgers' No. 2 prospect (No. 28 overall) got off to a fast start as he doubled home a pair of runs in the second and then hit a solo blast in the fourth before finishing 2-for-3.

MILB Video - Title: Verdugo hits solo homer - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1728962383

Verdugo has strung together a few good games and has a five-game hitting streak going as he continues to bounce back from a rough eight-game skid.
Verdugo, batting .317 through 105 games, has had a very good season at the plate, but from July 30 through August 8, hits were hard to come by. The 21-year-old collected just one hit over that stretch as he went 1-for-26 (.077) with one RBI as his average dipped from .330 to .312.
With that skid seemingly in the past, the hits have begun to fall for Verdugo, who is 7-for-16 (.438) with two homers and seven RBIs over his past six games.
Other top prospect performances from Monday's action:
No. 24 overall prospect Triston McKenzie (Indians' No. 2) turned in his second straight quality start for Class A Advanced Lynchburg as he gave up one earned run over seven innings. McKenzie allowed seven hits but didn't issue a walk and struck out nine. After getting pounded for a total of 13 runs in back-to-back starts, McKenzie has rebounded well, giving up just two earned runs over his past two outings.
No. 34 overall prospect Nick Gordon (Twins' No. 2) did it all for Double-A Chattanooga in a 9-0 win over Birmingham. Gordon matched his career high with five hits in a 5-for-6 performance. The 21-year-old, who fell a homer shy of the cycle, was responsible for much of the Lookouts offense as he scored three runs and drove in two more.

MILB Video - Title: Watch: Gordon notches 5th hit - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1729492683

No. 44 overall prospect Kevin Maitan (Braves' No. 6) and Drew Waters (No. 20) combined to go 5-for-10 with five RBIs, but it wasn't enough as Rookie-level Danville fell to Burlington in extra innings. Maitan drove in a run and matched his career high with three hits, while Waters hit his third professional homer and drove in four runs, a career high.
Pirates No. 4 prospect Ke'Bryan Hayes turned in his eighth three-hit game of the season in a 3-for-4 effort for Class A Advanced Bradenton. Hayes drove in two runs and bumped his average to .272 through 95 games.
Cubs No. 7 prospect Thomas Hatch put together a strong start for Class A Advanced Myrtle Beach, allowing one run on two hits in five innings. The right-hander threw 57 of his 90 pitches for strikes, walked two and struck out six.
Red Sox No. 13 prospect Roniel Raudes spun his longest start of the season for Class A Advanced Salem. Raudes, who also matched his career high, threw seven solid innings, giving up just one run on five hits. He also walked one and struck out six.
Padres No. 14 prospect Logan Allen fired six scoreless frames for Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore. Allen, who has a 3.20 ERA through eight starts with the Storm, threw 59 of his 96 pitches for strikes as he yielded six hits and struck out six.
Braves No. 17 prospect got off to a slow start with Double-A Mississippi, but he is starting to heat up. After collecting just one hit in his first seven Double-A games, Jackson, who went 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs in a win over Jacksonville, has multiple hits in three of his past four games.

MILB Video - Title: Jackson's first Double-A homer - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1728163083

Brewers No. 17 prospect KJ Harrison doubled his home run total with the first two-homer game of his career. Harrison, a third-round pick from the 2017 Draft, went deep in the fifth and ninth innings and finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs in Rookie-level Helena's win over Orem in Game 1 of a doubleheader.
Rangers No. 18 prospect Kyle Cody matched his career high with 11 strikeouts in a no-decision for Class A Advanced Down East. Cody, who has notched double-digit strikeouts in four games this season, gave up just one hit, but walked two -- both of which came around to score after he departed -- in 6 2/3 innings.
Pirates No. 22 prospect Stephen Alemais matched his career high with four hits and set a career high with four RBIs in Class A Advanced Bradenton's win over Daytona. Alemais, who went 3-for-4 on Sunday, was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with a double and two runs scored.