Carlos Gonzalez hits a walk-off cycle
Posted by Andy on August 1, 2010
In last night's game, Carlos Gonzalez did two pretty cool things: he hit for the cycle and hit a walk-off home run. Click through for more info on his accomplishment.
I figured that Gonzalez's feat would rank pretty high for Win Probability Added for recent cycles. It does make the top 10 for cycles since the 2000 season:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | 1B | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | WPA | RE24 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Kubel | 2009-04-17 | MIN | LAA | W 11-9 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0.903 | 4.845 | 1.810 |
| 2 | Kelly Johnson | 2010-07-23 | ARI | SFG | L 4-7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.583 | 4.074 | 1.623 |
| 3 | Luke Scott | 2006-07-28 | HOU | ARI | L 7-8 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.576 | 4.458 | 2.017 |
| 4 | Chad Moeller | 2004-04-27 | MIL | CIN | W 9-8 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.549 | 5.146 | 1.762 |
| 5 | Brad Wilkerson | 2003-06-24 | MON | PIT | W 6-4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.487 | 4.599 | 1.278 |
| 6 | Stephen Drew | 2008-09-01 | ARI | STL | W 8-6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.479 | 4.641 | 1.248 |
| 7 | Bengie Molina | 2010-07-16 | TEX | BOS | W 8-4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.455 | 5.085 | 1.242 |
| 8 | Damion Easley | 2001-06-08 | DET | MIL | W 9-4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.441 | 3.992 | .960 |
| 9 | Carlos Gonzalez | 2010-07-31 | COL | CHC | W 6-5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.428 | 0.807 | .780 |
| 10 | Adrian Beltre | 2008-09-01 | SEA | TEX | W 12-6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.383 | 4.288 | 1.010 |
That puts it 9th out of 50 cycles over that period. Looking at the box score, it's easy to see why it wasn't worth more. Sure, the home run to win it was worth a bunch, but it came with the score tied in the bottom of the 9th, when the Rockies already had a 65% chance to win. With the Rockies taking an early lead in the game, the rest of Gonzalez's hits weren't worth much WPA because they already had a good chance to win the game.
Jason Kubel's game, at the top of the list above, was worth so much because he hit an RBI doublwe to put the Twins in front at the start and then a 2-out, 8th-inning grand slam when the Twins were down by 2. That's how you accumulate a lot of WPA, folks.
August 1st, 2010 at 1:08 pm
The only other players with a game-ending home run while hitting for the cycle:
Ken Boyer (September 14, 1961)
Cesar Tovar (September 19, 1972)
George Brett - 2 HRs (May 28, 1979)
Dwight Evans (June 28, 1984)
August 1st, 2010 at 7:12 pm
I made the 350 mile trip to watch this game and I must say it was intense. If I am going to drive that far to see the Cubs lose, at least they lose in this fashion. It was only my 5th pro game ever, but I've been pretty lucky (my first was http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200404160.shtml).
August 1st, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I made a road trip on Saturday and saw my team lose via walk-off, too. (Another Brad Lidge blown save, another Ryan Zimmerman walk-off performance.)
I wonder what the record is for most games decided by walk-off home runs, or walk-off hits of any kind, in a give day.
August 2nd, 2010 at 8:02 am
So many walk-offs. Beltran also had the sac-fly. Check out http://www.thefantasybaseballguru.com leave comments ask qs and follow me on Twitter at beatboston1995