Brian Hernandez flicked his wrists and turned on a seventh-inning fastball late Monday night, ending frustration that had built up over the past few weeks for himself and the past two days for his Arkansas Travelers teammates.
Hernandez' fourth home run of the season hit off an advertisement sign beyond the left-field wall at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock and was followed later in the inning by a three-run home run from Jared Mitchell.
The two home runs provided all of Arkansas' scoring as it closed out a six-game homestand with a 4-3 victory in front of an announced crowd of 7,685.
Hernandez said the home run did provide some relief.
"I'd say just a little bit," he said. "I've been struggling personally. But it's even worse when the team is scuffling a little bit and I'm not doing my job."
Hernandez, the Texas League leader in RBI with 55, entered Monday's game on a 0-for-18 skid dating back to July 7, a span of four games. He didn't get a hit in his first two at bats Monday, either, when his hard grounder in the second was stopped by second baseman Drew Robinson, and another hard grounder was fielded by third baseman Luis Mendez.
Hernandez attributed his slump to mental issues, not mechanical.
"Sometimes you've got to try to do a little bit less," said Hernandez, whose average had dropped to .235 before Monday's game. "Just mentally. Not trying to be the hero, just go up there and play the game. The work has to be there, but less mentally."
Acting manager Mike Micucci said he was gratified to see Hernandez and Mitchell each hit home runs. Mitchell, who hit his third of the season, was moved to the lead-off spot for the first time this season to give regular lead-off hitter, second baseman Sherman Johnson, a day off.
Mitchell, like Hernandez, didn't get a hit Monday until his seventh-inning home run.
"It's always good to see success from guys," said Micucci, who ended his stint as interim manager during Bill Richardson's scheduled four-day midseason vacation. "Especially if they've been grinding."
The first six innings of Monday's game looked similar to Arkansas' losses Saturday and Sunday. The Travs didn't score in the first five innings of either loss, and struggled again Monday, this time against Frisco left-hander Chad Bell. The Travs left a runner on third in the fifth and runners on second and third in the sixth.
Then, Hernandez and Mitchell came through in the seventh to bail out starter Kyle McGowin, who gave up 2 runs and struck out a career-high 9 batters over 6 innings.
Micucci, the Angels' minor-league field coordinator, said he'll head to Salt Lake City today to fill in for the Class AAA Bees' hitting coach, who will start a vacation this week. He said he enjoys the role of replacement coach because it's an opportunity to deal with day-to-day operations of one team while also helping colleagues with needed time off during the grind of a season.
In his current position, Micucci bounces between all of the Travs' affiliates. But when he was Travs' manager in 2012, he took a four-day vacation and understands the benefit.
"It's great to give our guys a little bit of a break," he said. "They can get home to see their families, and you get to come in and get your hands dirty a little bit."
Sports on 07/14/2015