Barnes puts up five hits, nearly makes history

Brandon Barnes can thank Father Time for taking away the third cycle of his professional career, but the veteran has no complaints about Monday night's performance.
The Cleveland outfielder tied a career high with five hits -- including a homer and two doubles -- and drove in three runs, as Triple-A Columbus pounded out 23 hits in an 11-5 win over Toledo at Huntington Park. Barnes completed the cycle with Class A Advanced Lancaster on June 9, 2010 and achieved the feat in the Majors with his first pro five-hit performance for the Astros on July 19, 2013.

"You want to get the cycle, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen," Barnes said. "To say I wasn't going for it those last few at-bats would be a lie, but I had to stay with my approach if I was going to make it happen. I can't go up there swinging for a triple. It just doesn't work that way. But regardless, I'll take a five-hit game any day of the week."
Gameday box score
The 32-year-old doubled to right field and scored on Lonnie Chisenhall's double during the Clippers' three-run first inning. He singled to left and scored on sixth-ranked Indians prospectYu Chang's sacrifice fly in the second and blasted a two-run homer to center field in the fourth. Needing a triple to complete his first cycle at the Triple-A level, Barnes struck out in the fifth and ripped his second double of the game in the seventh. He thought about going for three as the ball banged off the wall in center. 
"Yeah, I really wanted to go for it there," the California native said, "But the ball went right to [Kenny Wilson] and I had to put on the brakes. I was thinking triple when I hit it and I tried to get out of the box as fast as I could. Unfortunately, I'm a little older now and not quite as fast I as I used to be. I was giving it everything I had but if I had tried, I would have been out by 10 feet."
With one last chance in the eighth, Barnes dropped an RBI single to center for his first five-hit Minor League game and his seventh with at least four hits. The Cypress Community College (Calif.) product is hitting .298/.346/.511 with 21 extra-base hits, 27 RBIs and 20 runs in 38 games for Columbus.

"Most guys will say [the ball] looks like a beach ball during a game like this," Barnes said. "But it just looked like a normal ball to me. I just stayed with my approach and made hard contact." 
Barnes has not appeared in the Majors since 2016 when he was with the Rockies, but he is a veteran of 456 big league games. He was a regular for the Astros in 2013, when he hit .240 in a career-high 136 games and 408 at-bats. 

"I love to play," he said. "This is my life and has been since I was four years old. Every day I come to the park is a blessing. I'd love to be in the bigs again and I think I can help someone [in the Majors]. God willing, I'll hopefully get back up there one day, but if not, I've had a good run. I do this for the love of the game, but you never stop fighting to get back up there."
Indians No. 20 prospect Eric Haase hit a two-run homer for the Clippers, who had nine of 10 players collect multi-hit games.
Sean Brady (1-0) allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five innings in his first Triple-A start.
Chad Huffman hit a two-run homer and Ronny Rodríguez doubled, singled and drove in two runs for Toledo.