News
Brown's adjustments lead to success
A's prospect homers, drives in three in Phoenix rout
By Robert Emrich / Special to MLB.com
11/13/09 12:17 AM EST
Corey Brown's making changes and they are paying dividends for him and the Phoenix Desert Dogs.Oakland '07 first-rounder Brown homered and drove in three runs in Phoenix's 11-5 rout of the Mesa Solar Sox on Thursday night.
Brown went a perfect 3-for-3, scored three times and walked twice as the Desert Dogs snapped the Solar Sox's six-game winning streak.
The center fielder, who struggled with a knee injury during the regular season, attributed his success to an adjustment he made his first week in Arizona.
"I think that the one key thing is that I changed my stance quite a bit and it took a lot of pressure off my [injured] knee," he said.
Brown, who hit .268 with nine homers for Double-A Midland, is batting .333 with six homers and 21 RBIs and ranks among the league leaders.
"You can come out here and play against the best competition," he said. "I just hope I can carry my success onto next year, and hopefully somehow make it to the Major Leagues next year."
Josh Bell (Orioles) drove in three runs with a pair of singles and Nevin Ashley (Rays) tripled and singled to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
Starlin Castro had two hits for the Solar Sox to raise his average to .388 and fellow Cubs prospect Josh Vitters drove in two runs.
Robert Ray (Blue Jays) picked up his second win after allowing four runs on eight hits and striking out four in four innings. Jeff Mandel (Nationals) gave up two hits and fanned two in two scoreless innings.
Steve Hirschfeld (Twins) allowed two runs on one hit and struck out three in three innings. Reliever Jeremy Haynes (Angels) suffered the loss after he was tagged with three runs on one hit and three walks in one inning.
Robert Emrich is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
