Red-hot Tucker homers to cap four-hit night

With summer looming, the weather is heating up. So is Kyle Tucker.
The Astros' No. 2 prospect capped his first four-hit game of the season with a solo homer as Triple-A Round Rock rolled past San Antonio, 11-4, on Saturday night at Nelson Wolff Stadium. Tucker went 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs.

MLB.com's No. 7 overall prospect took a while to get comfortable back in the Pacific Coast League, but it appears the adjustment period is over. After batting .173 in April, he's raised his average 56 points by going 7-for-10 in his last two games.
Tucker wasted no time against Missions left-handed starter Brad Kuntz. After Taylor Jones drew a bases-loaded walk in the first inning, the 2015 first-round pick laced an RBI single to center field to make it 2-0.
Gameday box score
Tucker struck out in the second but lined another base hit, off right-handed reliever Tristan Archer, in the fourth. He collected his third single of the night in the sixth off Archer, this time going the opposite way with a liner to left. The big blast came in the eighth, when the Florida native barreled the first pitch from right-hander Jon Olczak over the high wall in right-center for his seventh big fly of the year.
The offensive barrage comes as a reprieve for the second-ranked outfield prospect, who said he wasn't doing "much of anything" in April. While there's a natural tendency to press and tense up in slumps, Tucker noted that a small tweak to his approach was all he really needed.
"I've just tried to go opposite field, left of the batter's eye," he said, "That's the main focus of where I want to hit the ball. My swing hasn't really changed, minus the approach, and it's worked out well so far."
A unique situation for the Astros in 2015 allotted the club two of the first five Draft picks. Houston selected Alex Bregman second overall before taking Tucker -- regarded as one of the best high school hitters -- fifth. He rose through the ranks quickly, debuting in the Pacific Coast League to begin the 2018 season. The 22-year-old notched 20-20 campaigns in both 2017 and '18 and 60-grade ranks for hit and power helped pave the way to 24 round-trippers last year.

"I don't feel too much stress," Tucker said. "I'm just going to have that focus on the same approach."
Jones homered and drove in four runs, while third-ranked Astros prospect Yordan Alvarez went 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored to raise his batting average to .418. Leadoff man Alex De Goti also had three hits, and Nick Tanielu homered and drove in three runs for Round Rock. 
Top Brewers prospectKeston Hiura had a double and two home runs, his second multi-homer game at Triple-A.