Pierre hits for cycle, fuels comeback

Gustavo Pierre's offensive numbers through his first 35 games with Dunedin didn't suggest his evening would end with a pie in the face. But there he was, cleaning cream off his face after a postgame celebration Saturday night.

The Blue Jays prospect hit a game-tying homer in the seventh inning to complete the cycle and lead Class A Advanced Dunedin to a 7-6 victory over Brevard County at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

"I never had a pie [to the face] before," Pierre said. "It feels great, it was amazing."

"It was my best game that I've ever had, I can say that."

The 21-year-old third baseman's blast in the seventh not only completed the first cycle in the Florida State League since Daytona's Brett Jackson had one on June 14, 2010, it was still going when it hit the batter's eye in center field, more than 425 feet from home plate.

"I just walked to the plate and was looking for a fastball, something up, something to put the barrel there," Pierre said. "And I put the barrel on it and got it up there."

Pierre entered Saturday's contest with a .203 batting average and a .496 OPS in his first 133 at-bats in the FSL. He'd been showing signs of life of late, though, collecting a pair of hits in two of his previous six games and launching his second homer for the Blue Jays on Monday. It also was his first extra-base hit since he doubled on July 28.

"Sometimes I got caught up trying to do too much," he said. "The pitchers are different. Sometimes I was looking for something [at the plate] that wasn't there. Now I feel better. I want to finish strong in the last month of the season, make my adjustment, and whatever happens happens."

The native of the Dominican Republic fared much better in the Midwest League, hitting .292 with a .737 OPS for Lansing. The adjustment to a higher level has been slow for the free-swinger. Pierre has struck out 105 times across the two levels while drawing only four walks.

"I still do the same things I was doing before I got called up," Pierre said. "Sometimes you swing great and everything's good, sometimes it doesn't happen when you want, but now I'm still working hard and doing the same things. Things feel better now at the plate."

Two outs after Pierre homered to lift Dunedin into a 6-6 tie, Nick Baligod singled and raced to third on an errant pickoff attempt by reliever Eric Arnett (0-1). Jon Berti followed with an infield hit to put the Blue Jays in front.

The rally made a winner of Wil Browning (1-0), who allowed a single and fanned two in the seventh. Blake McFarland struck out the side in the ninth for his 15th save.