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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Arizona's Kelly Johnson Hits For Cycle Against San Francisco

By: Tyler Ward


There's yet another cycle to add to the history books and this time, it is a player no one expected. Enter Kelly Johnson. Arizona's second baseman hit the third cycle in baseball this season, but the Diamondbacks still came up short in the game, 7-4 - Texas' Bengie Molina and Milwaukee's Jody Gerut have also hit for the cycle this season.


Johnson hit a solo home run in the first inning and then doubled in the fifth inning. He drove in two runs in the sixth inning after hitting a triple. Johnson led off the eighth inning with the easiest hit of all, a single off of San Francisco's Sergio Romo. He finished the night 4-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBI.


Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after the game, "He was hitting everything. To win a game when you've got somebody on the other side hit for the cycle, that's a good thing."


It was a unique pitching matchup on Friday because San Francisco's Jonathan Sanchez and Arizona's Edwin Jackson have both thrown no-hitters in their careers, with Jackson's coming this year against the Tampa Bay Rays.


So, with no-hitters under their belts, many people expected a great pitching matchup and it was going to be one, right? Wrong. Both pitchers were mediocre at best. Jackson (6-9) took the loss while pitching six innings and giving up four earned runs (six total) with eight hits. Sanchez (7-6) did not factor into the decision while pitching fairly decent, pitching five innings and surrendering one earned run with four hits.


The Giants started off on the right foot in the first inning, with left fielder Aubrey Huff hitting a solo shot into right center. Huff would only be heating up at this point after putting the Giants out front with a 1-0 lead. Their lead did not last long, as Friday's headliner Kelly Johnson also hit a solo shot in the bottom of the first. Like Huff, Johnson was just getting started on a night that would be considered rather odd.


The pitchers would calm down and another run would not come until the fourth inning when San Francisco's Edgar Renteria singled to center, scoring Travis Ishikawa. Renteria, who has only played 47 games this season, got his 15th RBI of the season in the inning.


San Francisco's Sanchez left after the fifth inning, after pitching quality innings. The Giants had a 2-1 lead when he left the game, but Aubrey Huff hit his second solo shot of the night in the sixth inning, putting the Giants even further ahead, 3-1. The lead would not last long, however.


Santiago Casilla replaced Sanchez on the mound, but then proceeded to give up a two-run triple to Kelly Johnson, who then embarked on a mission to achieve the first cycle of his career. Casilla wasn't done, especially when he gave up a single to Andy LaRoche, scoring Johnson to finally give the Diamondbacks a 4-3 lead. Casilla's night was over after pitching 0.2 innings and giving up three earned runs on two hits. He also received a blown save in the game.


The seventh inning is where it got interesting. With Nate Schierholtz already on first, Eli Whiteside put down a sacrifice bunt, hoping to get Schierholtz to advance to second. It worked out even better for the Giants as Jackson's throw was a little too high, with first baseman Adam LaRoche having to jump slightly to avoid the ball from rolling down the field. LaRoche and Whiteside got to first base at the same time, and the latter was instantly called safe.

Eugenio Velez also attempted a sacrifice bunt, and Jackson again threw wildly, as the ball sailed over LaRoche and another run was scored for the Giants. The next batter, Andres Torres, hit a triple over the head of center fielder Chris Young, scoring two more runs to put the Giants up 6-4. Jackson walked the next batter, Freddy Sanchez, and Jackson was subsequently done for the game.

Aubrey Huff would single in the ninth, scoring Torres and that would be it as San Francisco won the game, 7-4. Kelly Johnson's cycle came in a losing effort, as this was the first time since 2008 that someone hit for the cycle in a loss (Atlanta's Mark Kotsay vs. Cubs). He also achieved the fourth cycle in Diamondbacks history, joining Stephen Drew, Greg Colbrunn, and Luis Gonzalez.

Giants catcher Buster Posey extended his hitting streak to 16 games and now has 21 RBI in the month of July.

Chris Ray (1-0) got the win, but only pitched a third of an inning. Arizona's Jackson has had four mediocre outings since throwing a no-hitter against the Rays on June 25th - he has given up 17 earned runs on 30 hits in those games.