Murphy goes deep twice for Stockton

Sean Murphy has been hot at the plate, a stretch he attributes that to a cool and confident mentality.
The A's 14th-ranked prospect homered for the second straight game, going deep twice on Sunday to power Class A Advanced Stockton to a 3-2 win over Lake Elsinore at Banner Island Park. It was his second two-homer game this season. 
"I just want to take it as it comes, not really think anything or expect anything of myself," said Murphy, who also homered twice on April 10 against Modesto. "Goals and expectations, they tend to cloud your head. So it's going up every at-bat with your mind clear, not doing anything different than what I am doing right now."

Gameday box score
Since returning from the disabled list on May 17, the 22-year-old has hit safely in 12 of 13 games, boosting his average 97 points to .305. Two months into his first full professional season, Murphy believes his pitch selection has led to his recent outburst. 
"The Cal League, it's a hitters' league and pitchers want to keep [the ball] down," he said. "It's not swinging at those pitches down, those sinkers down that they want you to swing at. Just wait for something up -- they're going to make mistakes. They're all only A-ball pitchers, they're going to make mistakes, and I want those." 
With two outs and Tyler Ramirez on first in the first inning, the 2016 third-round pick mashed a 2-2 offering from 20th-ranked Padres prospectJoey Lucchesi over the right-center field wall. 
"First inning, I got a pitch over the middle of the plate and he made a mistake," Murphy said. "You don't always hit them, but sometimes you do. It's a good feeling when you can. On a 1-2 count, he threw me a curveball and I took it for a ball. I knew what he had as far as his off-speed pitches. I was comfortable sitting on the fastball timing and being able to react to the curveball and foul it off or beat it if he hangs it." 
Leading off the fourth, Murphy took advantage of another hitter's pitch from Lucchesi and sent it over the left field fence.
"I was just sitting fastball timing and I was ready for the fastball and if he threw me something else I was going to take it and wait for what I got," he said. "And that comes back to the approach. ... At any point, I feel like I can take one out to any part of the park. It's just a matter of getting a pitch that I want and hitting it."
The Wright State product bounced into a fielder's choice in the fifth and grounded into a double play in the eighth. Despite those at-bats, Murphy said he's pleased with his recent results. 
"I'm settling in right now. I'm seeing pitches I want and I'm hitting them, so that's always a good feeling," he said. "I've just been simplifying. I'm going after what I want and not what the pitchers want me to do. I'm trying to stay within my approach." 
Murphy is coming off a season in which he compiled a .237/.318/.329 slash line with two homers and seven RBIs in 22 games with Class A Short Season Vermont. With a refined approach and some extra cage work, the Ohio native is outperforming those numbers. He's hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, going 21-for-52 (.404) with four homers and 15 RBIs.

"Tommy Everidge, our hitting coach here, he's been very helpful for me," Murphy said. "We worked on some top hand stuff when I wasn't able to do full swings. I think it's translated. Palm up, palm down, as they say. And I'm kind of feeling it. It's kind of translating from the cage to the games." 
Ports starter Angel Duno (5-1) struck out nine over 5 2/3 innings for the win, allowing one run on four hits.
Lucchesi (4-3) notched a career-high 12 strikeouts but gave up three runs on six hits and a walk over six innings. Padres No. 26 prospect Austin Allen clubbed his fourth homer, while No. 11 prospect Michael Gettys went 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Storm.