WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Carson Kelly’s teammates held up their hands in the dugout and motioned for the ball. In his third game as a Cub, Kelly had put his name in the record books.
As the Cubs sailed to a 18-3 victory Monday against the A’s, Kelly became the first Cub to hit for the cycle since Mark Grace in 1993, ending the longest drought of any team in the National League. The Cubs had come one hit shy of the accomplishment 342 times in between, according to mlb.com.
“Pretty special,” Kelly said after the game. “Great accomplishment, something that I never thought I would get.”
On a day when the Cubs batted around in two separate innings, Kelly also had enough plate appearances to walk twice. He’s one of only three players in the modern era to hit the cycle and draw a pair of walks in the same game, joining the Yankees’ Joe Gordon (1940) and the Phillies’ Mickey Cochrane (1933).