Tigers' Boyd gives up cycle without recording an out
When a player hits for the cycle, it's a rare and celebrated accomplishment. Not so for a starting pitcher who allows one, as Matt Boyd found out Sunday.
The Detroit Tigers left-hander had a disastrous outing against the Kansas City Royals, achieving a dubious historical feat in the process. Without recording a single out, Boyd allowed the Royals to hit for the cycle in the first inning: Billy Burns opened with a single, Whit Merrifield tripled him home, Kendrys Morales smacked an RBI double, and Salvador Perez capped off the historic inning with a two-run homer.
All told, Boyd allowed four runs on five hits over zero innings pitched before manager Brad Ausmus finally pulled him. The 25-year-old became only the fifth starter since 1913 to give up a cycle without recording an out, and the first to do it since 2002.
| Date | Pitcher | Team | Opp. | Gm. Score | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/25/1953 | Harry Perkowski | Reds | Braves | 15 | 10-3 L |
| 9/23/1966 | Dennis Ribant | Mets | Reds | 21 | 7-0 L |
| 7/23/1977 | Reggie Cleveland | Red Sox | Indians | 26 | 9-8 L |
| 4/17/2002 | Tomo Ohka | Expos | Cubs | 15 | 15-8 W |
| 9/25/2016 | Matt Boyd | Tigers | Royals | 24 | 12-9 L |
"I don't know if it was mechanical today, to be honest with you," Ausmus told reporters, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck, when asked for the cause of Boyd's struggles. "He wasn't out there that long that I could tell you if that was the cause.
"If this was June, I might have left him out there, and maybe he comes back in the second inning and he's fine. But at this point in the season, I couldn't wait to find out."
Boyd - who threw just 22 pitches, 17 of them strikes - became the first Tigers starter to exit for non-injury reasons without recording an out since 2007. His miserable performance put the Tigers in a hole they were unable to dig themselves out of, and their 12-9 loss to Kansas City dropped them 1 1/2 games back of Baltimore for the second wild-card spot.