Seattle Mariners hit for unique ‘reverse cycle’ in Cactus League game

The wackiness that is exhibition baseball was very apparent in today’s matchup between the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks in Scottsdale, Arizona.

And while most Spring Training games offer very minimal intrigue, they’re often entertaining, and it’d be nice if they were regularly available to watch for moments like these. But today’s game is, unfortunately, not being broadcasted by the Mariners, or the Diamondbacks, or MLB.TV, so today’s events will have to be lived vicariously through the words of those at the ballpark.

From Dave Sims’ mouth and the fingers of Shannon Drayer, it appears the Mariners have done something I’ve never heard of, or seen before, in my years of watching baseball.

That’s not to say it’s never happened, but I can’t recall such an occurrence and a brief search through Google didn’t yield any helpful results. So, if you, the reader, are a better baseball historian than I and can recall a previous “reverse cycle” by a team in one inning, please let me know. Perhaps I’m just stupid. Yeah, that’s probably it.

Anyhow, for those that are unaware—if it hasn’t been made clear already—the Mariners hit for a reverse cycle in the second inning of their game with Arizona today. Now, what is a “reverse cycle,” you may ask? Simply put; it’s when one batter hits a home run, then the next batter hits a triple, and so on and so forth.

To lead off the top of the second, Kyle Lewis lifted a ball that hit off the top of the left field fence but wound up being ruled a dinger. José Marmolejos followed that up with a triple, then early Cactus League star Tim Lopes drove him in with a double of his own. Finally, it came down to Dee Gordon, and the nine-year veteran roped a line drive into right field for a single.

Boom—reverse cycle.

And, in perfect Mariners fashion, the next three hitters generated outs after the aforementioned four hits to lead off the inning and neither Lopes nor Gordon scored. All that for just a couple of runs. But entertaining, or at least it would’ve been if it, you know, was being televised.