That One Time Tomas Hit Four Homers and Szczur Cycled in the Same Game

Greater Nevada Field is a hitter-friendly environment, it is no secret.

But on May 20, 2019 - friendly wouldn't be the word used to describe the offensive onslaught the Reno Aces put on Tacoma.

The club put a 25-8 beatdown on the visiting Rainiers while making history in the process.

Yasmany Tomás went 5-for-6 with 8 RBIs and slugged four homers that day, the first Ace to ever accomplish the feat. The four long balls tied a PCL record for most homers in a single game. The last do it was Micah Hoffpauir of the Iowa Cubs against the Round Rock Express in 2008.

Tomas' performance was so rare it overshadowed Matt Szczur's cycle - a feat that has only happened three other times in team history, the last coming in 2017 when Christian Walker did it against New Orleans. Brandon Watson in 2009 and Collin Cowgill in 2011 were the others.

Szczur checked the boxes with a homer in the second, a double in the fifth, a single in the sixth, and a triple in the seventh. He went 4-for-6 with three RBIs and three runs scored overall on the day.

How rare is it to have a four-homer game and cycle in the same contest? The only other time on record that has happened came in 1932 when New York Yankees' star Lou Gehrig hit four home runs and teammate Tony Lazzeri hit for the cycle according to ESPN.

Kevin Cron just had a run of the mill 3-for-4 day with two home runs, six RBIs, and five runs scored. His five runs tied a franchise record (Ed Rodgers, 2009 and César Puello, 2018).

At this point in the season, Cron had played in 42 games and was hitting .333 with 21 home runs, 60 RBIs to go with a robust .821 slugging percentage. Cron was called up to the big leagues four days later on May 24 making his Major League debut against the San Francisco Giants.

Overall, 25 runs were scored in the game by the Aces, most in franchise history. Every single player in the starting lineup had at least one run scored and one RBI.

The biggest inning came in the fifth, when the Aces plated nine runs. Both Yasmany Tomas and Domingo Leyba had two separate hits in the inning.

10 home runs were hit in the contest - Tomas: 4, Cron: 2, Szczur: 1, Caleb Joseph: 1, Tim Locastro: 1, and Domingo Leyba: 1. At the time, 10 team home runs in a game tied a PCL record set in 1974. Unfortunately, the Las Vegas Aviators would go on to break this record on July 27, 2019, when they hit 11 in a 20-11 victory over El Paso.

Reno's unheard-of offensive performance that day was featured in places like MLB.com, USA Today, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports and even had its own segment on the worldwide leader in sports - ESPN.

The game will be re-aired on Nevada Sports Net on Saturday, April 11 at 6 p.m. PST. Re-watch some history!

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