Schebler Cycle: The Culmination of An Incredible Stretch of Baseball
There couldn’t possibly be enough water at Louisville Slugger Field on Tuesday night to extinguish the fire that is Scott Schebler. Rounding off an out-of-this world month of July, the ultimate “cherry on top” performance came on Tuesday night as his double in the 10th inning completed the cycle, the first for a Bats player since 2007. It was also his first career five hit game.
Having time to reflect after the game, Schebler put his night at the plate near the top of his baseball memory list. “Doing something in the big leagues is obviously going to top this, but something like this is extremely special,” Schebler said.
It’s easy to claim that Schebler is seeing the pitches coming in like a beach ball but he’ll be the first to admit that this year hasn’t always been like that. “About a month and a half ago, I definitely didn’t see myself getting here to this point. But hard work with (Bats manager) Delino (Deshields) and our hitting coaches, getting those everyday at-bats and grinding through the hard times, when you get hot you want to stay hot as long as possible so I’m hoping I can keep this going,” he said.
Just how good has Schebler been at the dish? In his last five games (entering play Wednesday), Schebler is 14-for-22 including four doubles, two triples, and three home runs. With July coming to a close, Schebler has collected an OPS mark of over 1.000 for the second consecutive month.
Even with the staggering stats and recent success, Schebler couldn’t have predicted the night he had. “That’s the weird thing about baseball, sometimes you come to the ballpark and say ‘man I just want to scratch one across today.’ That’s how this game is.” Schebler said. “It can be humbling at times and times where you aren’t feeling very good and you go there and you’re in the zone after the first at-bat. It’s just a day-to-day grind.”
With a two-bagger away from the cycle and his fourth four-hit game of the season already locked up, Schebler was just trying to put himself in position for the Bats to win the game. “If you’re playing to win the game, stuff like that is going to happen. I definitely wasn’t going out there tonight saying, ‘Hey I’m going to hit for the cycle.’ It takes four at-bats to get to it, so it’s a long developing thing. I went out in the 10th and said, ‘Hey I need to get into scoring position.’” he said.
Video: Schebler completes cycle
The Bats have now won two in a row and will go for the sweep tonight at 7:05 PM against the Charlotte Knights. Schebler? He’ll attempt to get his fifth multi-hit game in a row.
