Monday's best: Verdugo's hot streak continues
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 Alex Jackson 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.