Carlos Gomez Hits For The Cycle

The Twins have been earning their way onto SportsCenter the last few days, in what is fast becoming a headline-heavy week for the club.

Just a night after getting no-hit for 8 1/3 by White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd, the Twins followed up that sad display by stomping the Sox 13-1 in a game delayed nearly two hours by rain. The team now leads the Central Division by 1.5 games over Cleveland.

The last time a Twin hit for the cycle came compliments of Kirby Puckett, who accomplished the feat against the Oakland A's on August 1, 1986. Carlos Gomez was just 8 months old.

And Gomez' magnetic traits of youth were widely on display Wednesday night as the young center fielder went 4-6, raising his average 21 points, from .261 to .282.

Gomez homered to lead off the game against Sox starter Mark Buehrle, tripled against Buehrle in the fifth, doubled in the sixth, and then singled off of Sox reliever Ehren Wasserman in the ninth. The single, completing this "inverse cycle," ricocheted off of the pitcher's glove, and Gomez beat out an infield throw by shortstop Alexei Ramirez to assure the feat. Camera angles showing Gomez' sprint down the first base line also readily captured an electric Twins dugout.

Gomez then flashed a beaming smile as he made his way around the bases, scoring his second run of the night. Arriving back at the Twins dugout, he was mobbed by teammates and seemingly shared joyous battle tales with pitcher Livan Hernandez, whom it should be noted tossed a complete game, improving his record to 5-1 on the year.

Gomez cycle was the eighth in Twins history. The box score can be seen here.