Biggio goes for the Cycle

It was business as usual for Cavan Biggio on Tuesday afternoon at Camden Yards. Or so it seemed, anyway.

He went about his usual pre-game routine, both hitting and fielding, and as the 24-year-old prepared to commence the final road trip of his rookie season with the Blue Jays, Biggio talked about finishing up strong.

And man did the kid deliver that and more by putting on a show that thundered directly into the team’s record books.
The Jays second baseman had a night he won’t ever forget, hitting for the cycle in his team’s 8-5 win over the lowly Orioles.

A ninth-inning triple drove in a pair of insurance runs and complemented a two-run homer in the third, a single in the sixth and double in the eighth to finish off the historic performance.
Biggio became just the third Jays player to complete the elusive hitting superfecta and the first to do so since Jeff Frye back in August of 2001. The only other Toronto hitter to accomplish the incredible feat was Kelly Gruber in 1989.
 
“I couldn’t really feel much,” Biggio said after he rocketed a ball in the ninth that sailed over the head of Orioles centre fielder Mason Williams, who crashed hard into the wall and had to leave the game with a suspected concussion. “I just put my head down and ran.”
And run he did. As if his life and a place in history depended on it.
As he rounded first, Biggio straight-armed an umpire who was in his way while his mother Patty was in the stands watching her son join her Hall of Fame husband Craig as just the second father-and-son duo to hit for the cycle in MLB history.

“I was shaking from head to toe,” Patty Biggio said. “I see so much of his dad when he played. Doing it again as a mother, it’s a little bit different. It’s more emotional. It’s more exciting. I’m just so happy for him.”
As rugged as a rookie season in the big leagues can be, Biggio hasn’t been daunted by the grind. His two-RBI triple took most of the thunder from popular teammate Justin Smoak’s solo homer earlier in the inning, a run which gave the Jays a 5-4 lead, but it continued an electrifying stretch for the young infielder.
“I just want to continue to play hard every day, finish strong and go out to the off-season and next year with some momentum and some positivity,” Biggio said. “Yes it’s a grind, but I feel good and I feel healthy. I want to take that mindset into the final two weeks.

“I think this whole month in general is really important into what we are going to do next year. We’ve got to get some momentum going.”


Sometimes viewed below higher profile rookies Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette on this rookie-heavy Jays lineup, Biggio has made his mark in his freshman campaign. He added a couple of stolen bases on Tuesday, making him a perfect 13-for-13 in attempts setting a club record for successful steals to start his career.
And the steal of third in the eighth was particularly as it led to Biggio scoring a run that would tie the game at 4-4 and help set up his heroics.
One of the hardest workers on the team, Biggio acknowledged the season has been a grind at times but is determined to finish up strong. And he’s certainly been doing that with a .333 batting average in 11 September games, his most productive month of the season.
“Obviously being in the big leagues, it’s less of a grind than in the minor leagues with the lifestyle and stuff,” the poised second baseman said after his four-RBI effort. “But it’s definitely tough when it’s something you’ve never really done, My body’s a little bit tired, but mentally I just want to keep on playing.
“September is supposed to be an exciting time. Hopefully that will be the case for us next year and going forward.”