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Drew hits for cycle as Diamondbacks topple Cards

Sep 2, 2008 - 3:52 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Stephen Drew became the fourth major leaguer to hit for the cycle this season and finished with a career-high five hits as the Arizona Diamondbacks overcame an early four-run deficit to post an 8-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday.

Ironically approximately four hours after the game's completion, Seattle Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre also hit for the cycle in his team's 12-6 triumph over the Texas Rangers.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was first time that two cycles were achieved on the same day since Bobby Veach of the Detroit Tigers and George Burns of the New York Giants on September 17, 1920.

Playing in his first game since being traded from the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, David Eckstein had a pair of hits - including a run-scoring single in the seventh which gave Arizona a lead which it would not relinquish.

Adam Dunn, Chris Young and Mark Reynolds also homered for the slumping Diamondbacks, who have lost seven of their last eight games.

Chad Qualls (3-8) worked around one hit in the seventh to pick up the win, while Brandon Lyon recorded his 26th save in 31 chances.

Their efforts notwithstanding, it was Drew's day to remember.

"I was kind of in awe," Drew said. "Today we were behind, but everybody pulled together and everybody contributed. To hit for the cycle, it is fine, but it wouldn't have meant anything if we didn't win."

At the time, the 25-year-old Drew joined Washington's Cristian Guzman, Minnesota's Carlos Gomez and Mark Kotsay, then of Atlanta Braves, as the only players to hit for the cycle this season. The last Diamondbacks player to accomplish the feat was Greg Colbrunn, who did it on September 18, 2002 against the San Diego Padres.

The 15th overall draft selection in the 2004, Drew singled in the first inning, tripled in the third and homered in the fifth off Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro.

In the seventh, he completed the cycle with a ground-rule double off reliever Kyle McClellan. For good measure, he added a double in the eighth to finish 5-for-5.

Drew was asked what he would have done if the ball stayed in the yard - stay on second or try for the triple.

"If the ball was rolling around, I don't know what I would have done," he said. "I probably would have tried for third. It is like Conor (Jackson) did the same thing, so it was meant to be.

"You know it but on that situation you have Sally (Jeff Salazar) on first, a left-handed hitter and no outs, more times than not you are going to try and pull the ball and get him over to second - but I had confidence and I hit the ball the other way. It is more or less getting your pitch and I had the pitch to do it on. Sometimes it is meant to be and today it was."

Arizona manager Bob Melvin tried to put in perspective just how hot Drew has been as of late.

"On a (scale of) one-to-10, it seems like he is a 10," Melvin said. "It seems like he gets a good at-bat every time up. It is certainly going to be a day he is going to remember.

"You don't get too many like this, but it will be one of the most exciting days of his life."

Winless in his last four starts, Johnson continued to struggle on Monday. The lanky lefthander allowed five runs and six hits while lasting only 3 2-3 innings, matching his shortest start of the season.

The Cardinals, however, couldn't hold the lead - much to the dismay of manager Tony La Russa.

"You can't lose a game like this," he said. "Everytime we (got) a ball up where we shouldn't have, they hit it out of the park. We made too many mistakes to win a game like this. We also missed a chance to put it away with Johnson struggling - we could have scored some more."