Brown hits for season's first cycle

Matt Brown had a cup of coffee with the Los Angeles Angels last season. With performances like Wednesday's cycle, he may get a little more than that this year.

Brown hit for the cycle as the Salt Lake Bees extended their season-opening winning streak to seven games with a 12-3 win over the Tucson Sidewinders on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old third baseman singled and scored in the second inning, smacked a leadoff triple and scored in the third and ripped an RBI double in the fourth. With a chance to complete the feat in the sixth, Brown lined out to shortstop Don Kelly off reliever Emiliano Fruto.

"I knew I needed the home run for the cycle at that point, but you're not going to hit one out if you're trying to. I was trying to get a good pitch and square it up and I just hit one right at him," Brown said.

Opportunity knocked again in the eighth, and this time Brown sent a pitch from reliever Dustin Glant over the left-field wall to complete the first cycle of the season in the Minor Leagues. Seth Smith hit for the most recent cycle in the Pacific Coast League while with Colorado Springs on Aug. 17, 2007, against Las Vegas.

"I can't even remember what pitch he threw me there. I was able to connect and put a good swing on it," Brown said.

The Washington native batted .276 with 19 home runs, 30 doubles and 60 RBIs last season for Salt Lake. He made his Major League debut in a pinch-hit appearance against Cleveland on May 10. He appeared in one game in July and two in August, going 0-for-5 with two walks.

After seven games this year, Brown is batting .500 (16-for-32) with three homers, 12 runs scored and five RBIs. After spending some time in Major League camp this spring, Brown seems to have developed the right attitude for a player on the cusp of achieving every ballplayer's dream.

"I learned a lot from some of the veteran players about how they go about their business," he said. "I just want to take things one at-bat at a time, one game at a time. You can't let a bad day get to you."

Terry Evans went 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles and Ryan Budde drove in two runs for Salt Lake (7-0).

Bees starter Nick Adenhart (2-0) allowed one run on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings.

Sidewinders starter Billy Buckner (0-1) surrendered eight runs on 10 hits and two walks while striking out two over four innings.

Tim Raines and Javier Brito each drove in a run for Tucson (1-6).