Lookouts' Silverio hits for the cycle

Needing a double to complete the cycle, Dodgers prospect Alfredo Silverio never hesitated as he rounded second base and headed for third in the eighth inning.

But when a similar situation arose two innings later, the center fielder decided to take the cautious approach and cruise into the history books.

Silverio went 5-for-7 with a homer, two triples, a double and a single to complete the Southern League's second cycle in less than two weeks, but the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts fell to the Carolina Mudcats, 12-11, in 12 innings Thursday.

"It feels good. That was my best-ever game," he said. "But we played a five-hour game and we didn't win. I feel bad because we lost after we came back and tied it three times, but I'm happy that I had a good game."

The 24-year-old native of the Dominican Republic led off the game with an opposite-field triple, and he pulled a solo homer down the left-field line in the third. After grounding out in the fourth and striking out to end the sixth, Silverio singled and scored in his fifth at-bat.

He came to the plate in the ninth representing the tying run with the Lookouts trailing, 11-8, with two on and one out, but he never considered halting at second base after driving a 1-1 breaking ball between the outfielders in center and right.

"If I had stayed on second base I would have had a cycle, but I was thinking about my team," he explained. "I didn't want to look bad for staying at second base with the ball still rolling in the outfield."

With the game in extra innings, Silverio got another chance at his first cycle when he stepped into the batter's box with Elian Herrera -- the potential winning run -- on first base. After twice failing to drop down a sacrifice bunt, Silverio went into protective mode and slapped a double down the left-field line. With Herrera being held at third base, he had no other choice but to go into second standing up.

"I hit another breaking ball over the third baseman's head and I thought, 'This time I will stay at second base,'" said Silverio, signed by the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent in 2003. "I knew as soon as I hit it that it was a ball to the wall."

Jake Lemmerman was intentionally walked to load the bases, but Hynick worked out of the jam to preserve the game. Alex Castellanos grounded out to shortstop Didi Gregorius, who got the force at home, and Allen Webster hit into an inning-ending 5-2-3 double play.

Carolina's Neftali Soto tripled and scored the eventual winning run on Miguel Rojas' sacrifice fly in the top of the 12th. Scott Van Slyke was thrown out at home trying to score from third base on a wild-pitch strikeout in the bottom of the inning, and Silverio was stranded on deck when Chattanooga's Herrera made the final out of the game.

The outing raised Silverio's batting average to .298. He has 33 doubles, 14 homers and a league-leading 14 triples in 114 Southern League games. He ranks first in the league in extra-base hits and total bases (235) and fifth in runs scored (74).