ATLANTA -- Brock Holt, who would be the most richly compensated player in baseball if he was paid by the position, debated whether he should take it with him, but in the end he elected to leave it behind, tucked in the back of his cubicle in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse.
The BH26, a 33 1/2-inch, 31-ounce, black-lacquered, maple-cupped Marucci bat Holt had used to hit for the cycle Tuesday in Boston's 9-4 win over the Atlanta Braves, didn’t make the trip to Atlanta.
“It’s right here," he said, gesturing to his cubicle. “It’s a good bat. Nice balance.
“I kind of want to keep using it, hit with it a bit more. But I’ll probably keep it to hang up on the wall or something."
The bat earned its place on Holt’s wall, if not a spot in a Hall of Fame display case, after Holt became the first Red Sox player in 19 years, and 20th overall, to hit a single, double, triple and home run in a game. The last Sox player to do so was John Valentin, now the assistant hitting coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers, on June 6, 1996.
Hitting for the cycle for hitters is a rarity on a par with throwing a no-hitter for a pitcher. “Are they?" Holt asked. “We were just talking about that in the shower."
According to Elias, there have been 244 no-hitters in baseball since 1900 and 264 instances of hitting for the cycle. Only since 2000 have cycles overtaken no-nos; there have been 61 cycles in the 21st century, 36 no-nos, a reflection of the offensive era baseball currently occupies.
In Fenway Park, there have been more pitchers throwing no-hitters than batters hitting for the cycle. Only 10 Sox players have hit for the cycle in the Fens. No one did it for 34 years after Ted Williams hit for the cycle on July 21, 1946, until Fred Lynn repeated the feat on May 13, 1980.
Dwight Evans, Rich Gedman and Mike Greenwell all did the same in a five-season span (1984-88), but until Holt did it Tuesday, Valentin was the only player to do so since.
Only five visiting players have ever done so in Fenway, the last Bengie Molina, the then-Texas catcher who surely ranks as one of the slowest players in big-league history to pull it off.
By contrast, 13 Sox pitchers have thrown no-hitters in Boston, and four visitors.
Like Molina, Holt came to the plate in the eighth inning needing a triple to complete his cycle. Much to the amusements of his teammates, Holt had circled the bases in nearly full-sprint mode on his seventh-inning home run, having lost sight of the ball as he headed toward second.
“I hit it good," Holt said, “but I know [Braves left fielder] Jonny Gomes knows how to play the Monster, so I just put my head down and was running as hard as I could to second base. I heard cheers. I was kind of looking around, 'Where’s the ball where’s the ball?'
“I was still sprinting when I crossed the plate, and Mookie [Betts] was laughing pretty good at me."
It was Holt’s second home run of the season, and first over the Monster in 93 career games at Fenway Park for the left-handed hitter.
“And probably the last," he said.
While the anticipation of a no-hitter increases inning by inning, so that by late in the game most fans are aware of what is at stake and energized to hang on every pitch, cycles tend to be recognized only after they happen. The announced crowd of 35,662 at Fenway Park on Tuesday afternoon was enjoying the team’s biggest offensive outburst of the season (18 hits), but there was no collective suspense as Holt came to the plate in the eighth to face Braves reliever Sugar Ray Marimon.
Holt, however, was not oblivious, which is why he responded the way he did when he launched a drive over the head of Braves center fielder Cameron Maybin.
"As soon as barrel hit ball, I was like 'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,' because once it gets in the [center-field] triangle, anything is possible," said Holt, who sent the ball rolling to the base of the wall, near the 420-foot sign.
“I was just running on my horse as hard as I could."
Upon his arrival at third base, coach Brian Butterfield offered his congratulations. "Pretty cool," he said.
Holt looked into the Sox dugout, and saw his teammates celebrating.
“I was trying to take in the moment," said the native of Fort Worth, Texas, who just turned 27 on June 11. “Pretty special."
Improbably, Boston’s next batter, Betts, came to the plate with a chance to hit for the cycle, too, which would have made the occasion truly historic: There has never been a game in which two players hit for the cycle, never mind teammates. But Betts flied out to center, leaving the unassuming Holt to stand alone in the center of a media scrum after the game.
Holt had been the team’s leadoff hitter for much of last season until he was knocked out of commission for the season’s last month by concussive symptoms. The Sox elected to open this season with Betts at the top of the order, and when he faltered, Dustin Pedroia became leadoff man. Holt batted leadoff Tuesday only because Pedroia was out with a sore knee. He also played second base in Pedroia’s absence, his second start at the position.
Last season, Holt became the first Sox player to start a game at seven different positions, all four infield positions, and all three outfield spots. Not even midway through the 2015 season, he has duplicated that feat, and is batting .309 -- .362 in 14 games in June.
Of all the issues the Sox have had this season, the unassuming Holt has not been one of them.
Not that his teammates don’t expect more. Pablo Sandoval, the only other player on the Sox roster to hit for the cycle -- he did it with the San Francisco Giants in 2011 -- made that clear when he shouted to be heard over the media scrum.
“Do it twice," he cracked.