A's third baseman Mike Blowers made
yesterday's 14-0 annihilation of the White
Sox at Comiskey Park not only
memorable, but also historic when he hit
for the cycle.
Hitting a single, double, triple and home
run in the same game happens less
frequently than no-hitters but never has
received its proper due from baseball
followers. It had been accomplished only
217 times before yesterday. Blowers'
eighth-inning triple made it 218 and caught
his teammates by surprise.
Blowers' four hits were merely part of a
17-hit Oakland uprising that included a
grand slam by Scott Spiezio and a
bases-empty home run by Mike
Macfarlane. Had the revitalized Oakland
offense not been so remarkable, it might
not have taken this long to mention that
Jimmy Haynes (3-1) pitched the first
complete game of his big-league career in
shutting out the Sox on six hits. Any other
day and that's the big story, but yesterday
belonged to Blowers, who became the
second Oakland Athletic to hit for the
cycle.
Taking over the past three days at third
base for the injured Dave Magadan,
Blowers brutalized the White Sox with
nine hits in 12 at- bats in the A's
three-game sweep. His grand slam on
Sunday wiped out what had been a 7-2
Chicago lead and set up a 9-7 victory.
``I thought the grand slam yesterday was
bigger (than the cycle),'' said Blowers.
``That's four runs for your team, and it got
us back in the game.''
Spiezio agreed. ``If he doesn't hit that
grand slam yesterday, we don't come out
today with all that confidence,'' Spiezio
said. ``That set the tone.''
Blowers sneaked up on the cycle, getting
three-fourths of the hits in the second half
of the game and saving the hardest for last.
After his home run, Blowers flied to right
in the third, doubled home two runs in the
fifth to make the score 5-0 and singled and
scored on Spiezio's slam in the seventh
that pushed the score to 12-0.
``I wasn't thinking about the cycle,
because I don't hit that many triples; I get
about one a year,'' said Blowers, who has
been in the big leagues for seven years and
has seven triples.
Facing Chicago reliever Larry Casian in
the eighth, Blowers sliced a drive into the
right-field corner. It bounced away from
right fielder Mike Cameron and Blowers
saw his chance at history.
``When I rounded first and saw where the
ball was, that's when I decided to go for
it,'' he said. ``That's the first time I thought
about the cycle.''
When he started moving faster instead of
cruising into second base, his teammates
were at first puzzled. ``When he went
around second toward third, I thought,
`What is he doing?' '' Spiezio said. ``I'll
say this, I never saw him run so fast.''
As Blowers steamed into third his
teammates began to catch on. ``Somebody
said, `That might be a cycle,' '' said
Macfarlane. ``So we went and checked the
scorecard in the dugout. Sure enough, it
was. But we didn't know it until then. We
all stood up in the dugout and he
acknowledged us.''
Blowers said he had not hit for the cycle
on any level, even Little League.
``I've seen a couple of them,'' he said. ``I
saw Jay Buhner and Alex Rodriguez do it
with the Mariners. I never thought I would
do it because my triples are so rare.
You've got to get one and then have
everything else come together.''
It certainly has come together for Blowers,
who becomes the only second Oakland A's
player, along with Tony Phillips (May 16,
1986), to hit for the cycle. He traces his
hot streak to Friday night in Detroit; when
Magadan was injured, Blowers replaced
him and drew two walks.
``The fact I got to see nine pitches really
helped me,'' he said. ``I wasn't coming in
cold. . . . And knowing I'm playing every
day has helped me relax. You don't have
the pressure of getting only one at- bat.''
In sweeping a three-game series for the
first time this year, the A's totaled 34 runs
and 44 hits. ``What I liked today was that
we didn't quit,'' A's manager Art Howe
said. ``When we got the lead we kept
adding on. We've been known to get a
lead and then sit on it.''
All the A's sat on yesterday was the White
Sox, as every Oakland starter had at least
one hit and Ben Grieve had three.
Spiezio, who had a double before
unloading his third career grand slam, said,
``We've got four in the family now. My
dad (former big-leaguer Ed Spiezio) had
one.''
-- THE RARE CYCLE
Mike Blowers singled, doubled, tripled and
homered for the A's. Only one A's player
had previously hit for the cycle: Tony
Phillips on May 16, 1986.
-- THE RARE TRIPLE
Blowers completed his cycle with an
eighth-inning triple. Blowers, who has
seven triples in 1,916 career at-bats,
became the 218th player to hit for the
cycle, the first since the Mets' John Olerud
last September 11.
-- SLAMMIN' SPIEZIO
Scott Spiezio hit a grand slam in the
seventh inning, his second slam of the
season. Three of his 21 career homers
have been grand slams. ``It's a freak thing
for me,'' he said.
-- HAYNES IS HOT
Jimmy Haynes pitched a six-hit shutout in
the first complete game of his career. In
his previous start, he out-dueled Roger
Clemens in a 4-2 victory. This was the
first complete-game shutout by an A's
pitcher since Dave Telgheder on Sept. 10,
1996.
Bush, David. "Hit Parade: A's Romp". San Francisco Chronicle. 19 May, 1998. E1.
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