DENVER (AP) — Xander Bogaerts lamented the single he couldn't get to complete the cycle.
He had two cracks at it and a tentative game plan if the ball traveled into the gap (hint: He was leaning toward just stopping at first).
With the homer, triple and double out of the way early, the San Diego Padres shortstop struck out looking and then swinging in his last two at-bats on Thursday in his bid to become the fourth Padres player to hit for a cycle.
“That one might sting a little bit,” Bogaerts said after a 9-2 win over the Colorado Rockies. “This (single) is like a layup. Shows you how hard this game is.”
Bogaerts' memorable day at the plate started with a homer and an RBI triple in a seven-run second inning. He followed with a ground-rule double in the fourth.
All he needed was that base hit, of which he has 1,306 in his career.
He watched a cutter from Zach Agnos go by for strike three in the sixth and then couldn't catch up to a four-seam fastball off reliever Jordan Romano in the ninth. Bogaerts is the first San Diego player to fall a single shy of the cycle since Tommy Medica on May 28, 2014, according to the team.
“They pitched me tough,” Bogaerts said. “They seemed they didn’t want me to get it.”
Understandable.
This is as likely of place as any for a cycle to occur. Consider: There have been 18 at Coors Field, tying it with Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, for the most at a major league venue. Fenway has been around since 1912 while Coors Field opened in 1995.
“I never got one at Fenway, either,” cracked Bogaerts, who started his career with the Red Sox.
Bogaerts hit his first homer since Aug. 14 and his first triple since July 27, 2024 — in the same inning.
“We were pulling really hard for him,” said manager Craig Stammen, whose team moved four games ahead of Arizona for the last National League wild-card spot. “For him to be so close to a cycle was pretty exciting.”
It's certainly exclusive territory.
Matt Kemp had the first cycle in Padres history on Aug. 14, 2015, at Coors Field. Wil Myers joined him in the club with another at Coors Field on April 10, 2017. Jake Cronenworth added his name to the list with a cycle on July 16, 2021, not at Coors Field, but at Washington.
So, just for argument’s sake, if he would’ve hit one in the gap, might he have stopped at first?
“Listen, I thought about it, and I think I would have held up. I might've held up,” Bogaerts said. “It was a good chance. ... Yeah, I was going to pull up."
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