Howard's four hits lead San Jose outburst

Ryan Howard's numbers in the season's second month are even better than in the first. His .330/.381/.443 slash line in May constitutes improvement in each category over April, and his 10 RBIs edge last month's total by one. Still, he believes he can do more than his recent body of work.
He proved it on Wednesday.
The Giants' No. 30 prospect put together the first four-hit game of his professional career, doubling, driving in two runs and scoring another, as Class A Advanced San Jose broke out at the plate in an 11-7 win over Lancaster at The Hangar.

Gameday box score
"I tried not to do anything different," Howard said. "I felt myself a little bit lately trying to do too much, so tonight I just tried to shorten up and get the barrel to it. Luckily, I hit it where they weren't standing, so it worked out good. Hopefully, it's something where me and our team can take this and run with it."
The Giants pounded out 20 hits, with Howard at the forefront. Batting out of the second spot in the lineup, the shortstop reached on an infield single leading off the third inning and singled to center to open the fifth. He notched his third hit with an RBI single to center in the sixth.
Howard's biggest knock of the night came in a three-run eighth when he doubled to left to score No. 23 Giants prospect Jalen Miller with the go-ahead run.
"Jalen had a good at-bat in front of me and he walked," Howard said. "I just told myself, 'Make sure you get a good one to hit.' I got into an advantaged count, at least 1-0, and I think I fouled one off later in that at-bat. I felt good. I saw [reliever Carlos Polanco] good. He threw about the same pitch that I fouled off, and I got the barrel to it. It felt good. To get the go-ahead run there, it let Bryan Reynolds do his thing, and he hit a home run."
Reynolds, the Giants' No. 3 prospect, followed with a two-run shot to left-center to provide some breathing room.
Howard is batting .438 (14-for-32) during as even-game hitting streak, continuing to adapt in his first year at the Class A Advanced level.
"The guys here, they have that putaway pitch when you get to two strikes," he said. "It's a lot sharper slider. The velo's a little bit better, which makes the slider better. The off-speed for me, it's just the consistency. The guys coming out of the 'pen, they're bringing it. It's a little bit different, but you try to take the same approach and not get too wrapped up into how hard a guy is throwing and stuff."

Howard has driven in a run in three straight games and has four multi-hit efforts during his streak.
San Jose squandered two leads. The JetHawks scored four times in the fifth to erase an early 3-0 deficit and, after the Giants reclaimed the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth, Lancaster rallied for three more. San Jose didn't fold. The Giants broke the 20-hit mark for the first time since Aug. 2, 2013 in a 15-6 win at Bakersfield.
"I think it was huge for our team because we've had some guys who are great hitters struggle for the beginning of the year," Howard said. "Seeing them get some knocks and loosen up, hitting's contagious. Whenever one guy goes up there and gets a hit, everyone goes up, and it was just real loose in the dugout. They came back, and earlier on this year, I think our team would've tightened up and thought, 'Here we go again.' It was loose.
"I think everyone's seeing it well and just trying to stick to everyone's approach and playing the whole year hard. I really think our offense is going to take off because we've got a bunch of guys who can really hit."
Top Rockies prospect Brendan Rodgers went 2-for-5 for the JetHawks and is batting .354.