Source: Josh Jackson / Special to MLB.com
Scott Thorman (Cambridge, ON) has put together some good memories in 11 years of pro baseball, but he pulled off a first Sunday.
The Major League veteran hit for the cycle for the Omaha Royals, who squandered a three-run ninth-inning lead in an 8-7 loss to the Iowa Cubs.
The last Royal to hit for the cycle was Jarrod Patterson, who collected all four hits off Oklahoma City's Chan Ho Park on May 22, 2003.
"This is the first time [for me]," Thorman said. "It was definitely a great day, [but] I don't know where I'd rank it. Anytime you have four hits in a game, it's a good day. So, obviously, a cycle is pretty special."
Thorman, a former first-round pick who made his pro debut in 2000, doubled and scored in Omaha's two-run first inning, slugged a solo homer in the second, hit his second triple of the season in the fifth and singled in the seventh. All three extra-base hits came off Iowa starter Chris Carpenter. The homer and triple were on the first pitch of each at-bat.
"I didn't feel too good at the plate early on at all," Thorman said. "I was just bearing down, trying to put the bat on the ball. I've felt better at the plate other days and gone 0-for-4. Baseball is a funny game like that."
After homering and doubling in his first two at-bats and drilling the ball to right field in the fifth inning, it occurred to Thorman that he had a rare opportunity.
"I got about two steps from third base and realized I was a single away. At that point, it crossed my mind," he said. "A single is the least impressive part of a cycle and it was still early, so I thought I had a pretty good chance."
The base hit came in his next plate appearance, when he poked a ground ball into right field off reliever Luke Sommer.
"I was thinking about [trying to single]," Thorman admitted. "I was facing a tough lefty and I swung at a good hard slider and just tried to get it through the right side."
Trailing, 7-4, heading to the ninth, the Cubs put up four runs to grab their first lead of the afternoon.
Thorman led off the bottom of the ninth and hit a long fly ball to center field. He thought he may have tied it with his second homer of the game.
"I thought I hit it pretty good. Ironically, it was probably the best swing I took all day," he said. "I was just trying to get on base and get something started for us."
The loss tipped the five-game series to the I-Cubs, 3-2, although every game was decided by two runs or fewer.
"The whole series was kind of like that, kind of crazy," Thorman said. "The whole game was crazy. It was one of those days. Baseball kind of happened today."
The third-inning longball was the 21st for Thorman, who's reached the 20-mark each of the last three years.
"Twenty home runs is obviously a pretty good number for a power hitter," he said. "It's something I aspire to. Everybody has something in mind, a special number in one category or another that they think about in Spring Training. That's one of mine, I guess."
The Ontario native played 175 games in the Major Leagues with the Braves from 2006-07 but said he doesn't dwell on whether he'll join Kansas City when rosters expand next week.
"I don't worry about that. That's out of my control," he said. "Whatever happens with rosters happens. I just try to have good at-bats and help my team wherever I am."
Thorman became the sixth player to hit for the cycle in the Pacific Coast League this season and the first since June 20. Las Vegas' Jarrett Hoffpauir did it twice, on April 25 and May 28.
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