Lake Elsinore's Gettys hits homer trifecta

In the span of two hours and three official at-bats, Michael Gettys deposited almost as many balls over the outfield fence as he had over the first two months of the season. 
Gettys blasted three solo homers as Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore squeaked past San Jose, 8-7, in a back-and-forth game on Friday night at Municipal Stadium

Gameday box score
The Padres' No. 11 prospect became the first Storm player to go deep three times in one game since Colt Morton on July 14, 2007. San Jose's Dillon Dobson had the California League's first three-homer game this season on April 28.
"In the past, when I already had hit two homers, I would have gone for that third one," Gettys said. "But in that spot [in the seventh inning], I was just trying to see the ball and hit the ball. I've made the mistake before of trying to hit home runs and I wasn't going to do that there." 
The 21-year-old started his long ball barrage in the first, snapping a 13-game homerless drought with a shot to center off Grant Watson. After walking in the third, Gettys parked one over the left-center field fence for his sixth of the season. It was his third career two-homer game and first since last Aug. 27 against High Desert. 

Gettys completed the trifecta by taking a pitch from David Owen over the center field wall in the seventh. The Gainesville, Georgia, native struck out in the ninth to deny himself a shot at tying his career high of four hits, done six times previously and most recently last June 8 with Class A Fort Wayne. 
"I knew I got all of them pretty good, but because they were all hit out towards center, I wasn't totally sure they'd get out," Gettys said. "Two of them were hit more on a line, so those were the two I wasn't really sure would get out.
"Overall though it was a great experience. I've never hit three home runs in a game in my life. I've been seeing the ball a lot better recently and having better at-bats."

Coming off a season where he batted .305/.363/.442 with a career-high 12 home runs and 60 RBIs in 128 games in the Midwest and California leagues, Gettys struggled out of the gate this year. He struck out 44 times against two walks while hitting .223 in 23 games during April.
He rebounded to bat .274 and walked 18 times in 27 games in May, but has gone 5-for-9 -- all extra-base hits -- in the first two games of June. His .261 average is the highest it's been since the sixth game of the year.
"Nothing was wrong with me earlier in the year," Gettys said. "I just got back to what I was doing in the past. As ballplayers, sometimes we get away from what has made us successful and what works.
"I kept waiting for a breakthrough. Things weren't going my way that first month, but it started to turn. I was hitting the ball harder and walking more, so I knew it was coming."
Chris Baker went 3-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored for Lake Elsinore, which took an 8-7 lead in the eighth on Carlos Belen's third hit and third RBI of the game. 

Giants No. 13 prospectAramis Garcia doubled twice and drove in two runs in his third multi-hit effort in four games. Ryan Howard, San Francisco's 30th-ranked prospect, had an RBI and collected two hits for the third straight game. 
Giants outfielder Hunter Pence walked, singled and scored twice as he continued his rehab assignment.