51s’ Ross ends slump, disappointing season by hitting for cycle

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.

At the close of a season of disappointments, it was finally something to cheer about.

Cody Ross, a 51s outfielder who struggled for much of 2005, particularly in two weeks with the Dodgers, capped off a resurgent end of the season by going 4-for-5 and hitting for the cycle.

Ross, who went 4-for-25 at the plate in 14 games with the Dodgers, went through a miserable slump after being sent down on July 14. By Aug. 15, he was batting .188, going 18-for-96 at the plate, since his time in the major leagues.

But his batting average has gone up nearly 80 points since then. He went 25-for-74 since Aug. 16, including a stretch of consecutive four games in which he hit a home run.

"It's definitely a positive ending for what I considered to be a mediocre year for myself at best," Ross said. "I didn't perform how I'm capable or how I wanted to and it's nice to start now and end strong."

Ross hit his 22nd home run this year to lead off the second inning. He tripled in the third and singled to lead off the fifth before striking out in the seventh inning.

But with the 51s trailing 9-5 in the ninth, Ross hit a one-out double to seal the first cycle by a Las Vegas player since Greg La Rocca in July of 1998. Of the five previous cycles in Las Vegas history, one, by Billy Hall in 1994, was in the month of September.

"Hitting for the cycle today, that's pretty good," 51s manager Jerry Royster said. "Today is traditionally a day where guys will, it's not that they don't play hard, but their concentration isn't there. But you could see it from the time he arrived today. He was going to play as hard as he possibly could, he was trying to get some stuff done, he just hasn't given up."

Despite that, Ross didn't get a postgame invitation to play for the Dodgers with the expanded roster.