Chapman records first three-homer game

The "little things" Matt Chapman and his hitting coach, Eric Martins, have worked on recently paid off in a big way on Saturday.

The fourth-ranked A's prospect recorded his first career three-homer game as part of a 4-for-5 night in Triple-A Nashville's 6-5 loss to New Orleans at Zephyr Field. He drove in four runs and has gone deep six times in his last nine games.

"We've been working on just staying short and staying through the ball and not trying to do too much," the 23-year-old third baseman said. "Just using my hands and not try to get out of my legs or get rotational, little things like that. I think the success from today is almost all Eric Martins' and my teammates' for just getting on base. They are just as much responsible for my success."

Chapman, who was batting .149 (10-for-67) since getting promoted from Double-A Midland on Aug. 16, put the Sounds on the board with a two-run blast to center field in the first off Zephyrs starter Asher Wojciechowski. He followed that up with leadoff shots in the third and fifth, becoming the seventh player in Sounds history to accomplish the feat and the first since Russell Branyan on May 16, 2008.

"I was excited," said the 2014 first-round pick, who singled in the seventh before striking out in the eighth. "Running the bases, I knew I had never done that before. It was a lot of fun and it was definitely a game I'll never forget."

The Cal State Fullerton product ranks third in the Minor Leagues with 36 homers, the first 29 coming in the Texas League. Chapman also notched his fifth multi-homer game of the season.

"I was coming off a hot streak in Double-A and when I moved into Triple-A, there was definitely an adjustment," he said. "Guys pitched a little bit differently and there was a little bit of adversity. I hit a little slump there, but you just have to keep grinding because you never know what's going to happen."

With two games remaining before he and the Sounds take on Oklahoma City in the first round of the Pacific Coast League playoffs, the timing of his breakout performance couldn't have been better, Chapman added.

"Every at-bat counts," he said. "I know everybody on the team is working hard to finish the season strong and keep it rolling into the playoffs, myself included. I think it's definitely important to keep working and keep getting after it and trying to keep that good feeling to make that playoff push."

A's top prospect Franklin Barreto and No. 15 prospect Matt Olson both added two hits for the Sounds, but starter Angel Castro (2-8) surrendered six earned runs on eight hits and a walk with one strikeout over four innings.

Wojciechowski (4-5) gave up four runs on eight hits, including all three of Chapman's homers, over five innings. He struck out six and walked two before Drew Steckenrider worked a scoreless ninth for his seventh save. Matt Juengel homered and plated three runs for the Zephyrs, while Cole Figueroa chipped in three hits.