Wahoos' Siri busts out with two homers

Jose Siri is finding his groove in the Southern League. 
The Reds' seventh-ranked prospect broke out with his first two-homer game at the Double-A level, going 3-for-5 with four RBIs in Pensacola's 11-3 win over Jacksonville on Wednesday at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

Gameday box score
Siri said he felt locked in at the plate. 
"I feel good and everything was clicking tonight," he said through an interpreter. "I'm just going to keep working." 
After going 3-for-5 against the Jumbo Shrimp, Siri raised his average 26 points to .235. The outfielder, who was promoted from Class A Advanced Daytona on June 11, was hitting .189 over his previous 10 games. 

"At first, when I first got here, I wasn't getting ready on time," Siri said. "I was just late on everything and what's changed for me is that I'm quieter at the plate, I'm more relaxed and I have my foot down earlier and I'm ready earlier and I'm seeing the ball better." 
The 23-year-old was sidelined for the first part of the season after injuring his thumb making a catch against the wall in center field, but he put up a .261/.280/.395 slash line in his first 30 games. It followed a stellar campaign with Class A Dayton in which he set a Midwest League record with a 39-game hitting streak and batted .293/.341/.530.
"It's not easy to make the adjustment. Usually, that's going to take a little bit of time," Blue Wahoos hitting coach Mike Devereaux said. "But he's been working hard. The guy definitely has skills -- all five tools -- and it's great to see him come through tonight. We've been working with him on staying on top of the ball and not trying to lift it, and that's exactly what he put into play today. It felt good to see." 
Even when he hasn't produced at the plate, Siri's well-rounded set of tools allows him to impact the game in other ways. 

"The first thing I saw was his defensive skills," Devereaux said. "I didn't see much of it in Spring Training because he was hurt, but the first thing that popped out to me was his defensive skills and how fast he was and his ability to close the distance on fly balls. I really, really like that. ... I really value defensive play, and that really interests me." 

The native of the Dominican Republic whacked his first homer of the game in the third, unloading on a 1-2 pitch from Jumbo Shrimp starter and Marlins No. 8 prospectNick Neidert. Siri went yard again in the ninth, launching a three-run blast to left field off Kyle Keller. In between, he lined a two-out single to left off Neidert in the seventh.
Mitch Nay was 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored for the Blue Wahoos. Seth Varner (5-1) got the win, allowing three runs -- one earned -- on six hits over seven innings with a walk and four strikeouts.
Top Marlins prospect Monte Harrison singled twice and drove in a run for Jacksonville.