Robertson completes unlikely cycle bid

On Sunday, Daniel Robertson got ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the sixth inning. On Monday, he wasn't even scheduled to be in the lineup, but ended up hitting for his first ever cycle.

The 25-year-old went 4-for-6 with a career-high six RBIs to lead the Double-A San Antonio Missions to a 17-6 rout and a four-game sweep of the Midland RockHounds.

"This is the first time I have done this in my life," the Padres prospect said. "It hasn't sunk in yet. I think I'm dreaming a little bit.

"I think it was just the way it went down. I wasn't in the lineup then Blake Tekotte goes down with an allergic reaction and I have to step in. I'm only a day removed from getting thrown out of a game. It's funny how things happen."

It was the first cycle in the Texas League and the second in the Minor Leagues in 2011. Stockton's Kent Walton achieved the feat on April 21.

Robertson led off the game with his fourth triple of the year, and he followed that with a one-out homer in the third -- his second longball of the season.

"That's when I started thinking, 'maybe'," he said. "I have came close a couple times before, but how sweet would it be to go over the edge tonight?"

The left-fielder then ripped a bases-loaded single in the sixth -- going to second on the throw -- and he grounded out to end the seventh inning.

"[Pitcher] Brad Brach came up to me right away after the at-bat in the sixth and told me that they had ruled it a single and that I needed a double for the cycle," Robertson said. "But after the seventh inning, I didn't think I'd get another shot.

"Then the first three guys got on and all of a sudden the six-hole hitter was up. I told myself if it was meant to be, it would be."

Anthony Contreras struck out swinging for the second out of the inning, and even though Robertson was in the on-deck circle, he needed Beamer Weems to reach safely to get another chance at the cycle.

Robertson, who collected his previous career-best five RBIs for Lake Elsinore in a game against Modesto last June, said: "I looked at Beamer as he was going out there and I said, 'Just let me get another at-bat, man'. He smiled at me, went out there and got a walk and the rest is history."

With the bases loaded, the ninth Missions hitter to come to the plate in the inning completed the cycle with a double that one-hopped the wall.

"[Lance Sewell] threw me a 3-2 fastball up in the zone and I knew I got a lot of it, but I thought I might have hit it too hard," Robertson added. "When I saw it come off the wall, I just cruised into second and got that feeling of doing something that not many people can say they have done.

"Without the performance of my teammates, none of this could have happened."