Isotopes' Valaika records second career cycle

There are big nights and then there are nights like the one Pat Valaika had on Saturday. 
The Rockies infielder hit for the second for the second time, set a career high with seven RBIs and scored three runs to lead Triple-A Albuquerque to a 12-5 triumph over Salt Lake in front of 7,321 at Isotopes Park. 

Valaika wasted no time in his historic pursuit. In his first at-bat, he plated  Rockies No. 5 prospectRaimel Tapia with a double to right field to key a three-run opening inning for the Isotopes. In the second, the 24-year-old broke the game open by taking Salt Lake starter Daniel Wright (0-1) deep to left for a three-run homer. Two innings later, Valaika dug in with the bases loaded and promptly cleared them with a triple to center field.
Box score
"I didn't start to think about it until after I hit the triple," Valaika said. "When I hit the double and home run, it was still early in the game so it didn't even cross my mind. But then once I hit the triple I was like, 'Oh, well, here we go again.'"
With the hard part out of the way, Valaika couldn't help but have his mind drift back to last Aug. 22 when he poked a single to center field in the eighth inning against Fresno to complete his first career cycle.
"Guys on the bases were asking me if I had ever hit a cycle before and I told them, 'Yeah, last year," Valaika said with a laugh. "It was cool that it happened at our home park both times."
With his team staked to a seven-run lead, Valaika stepped up, well aware of the situation. The UCLA product fell behind reliever Kirby Yates, 1-2, but was able to fight one off for a single to right to put his name in the Pacific Coast League record book ... again.

"I knew what I needed to get the cycle, but my mindset going into that at-bat wasn't to hit a single," Valaika said. "I would have been happy with a double. I wasn't trying to just baby one by any means."
Having already hit for the cycle and driven in seven runs, Valaika came up again in the seventh. Despite the temptation of trying to reach on a walk, the California native scoffed at the notion he should put his bat on his shoulder. 

"No, I wasn't trying to get the walk," he joked. "I went up there and was still just trying to get a hit and it didn't happen, so I was glad that I was able to get it out of the way before that."
After the game, with time to reflect on another historic performance, Valaika said it wasn't the cycle that jumped out.
"Getting seven RBIs is definitely pretty cool," he said. "Now I know it's a career high, but I didn't realize how many I had until Chris Denorfia joked with me during the game and said that I only needed seven more to set a new record. He told me, and that's when I realized how many I had."
Noel Cuevas went 3-for-4 with a homer for Albuquerque. 
Zach Jemiola (1-0) got the win, despite allowing five runs on nine hits with three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.