Remember the Albuquerque Isotopes in June? The team that lost 13 in a row and scored a paltry 27 runs during that skid? Yeah, they’re not here anymore.
Now they have demigod David Dahl, and Tom Murphy is a prospect reborn, and together they unleashed the fury as the Isotopes beat the visiting Memphis Redbirds 12-8 on Thursday night.
"It’s something special, everybody’s swinging the bat really well, everybody’s feeding off each other and we’re just trying to keep it going," Dahl said on a night where his team hit five total home runs.
"We’re gelling one through nine," Murphy added. "Pitching was always there beforehand, now we’re starting to swing it, you can see what happens when we combine the two."
Dahl went 3-for-5 with a triple and two home runs for a whopping 11 total bases on the night. He narrowly missed a home run on the ball that ended up a triple as it hit off the top of the wall right above the 400-foot sign on the Topes Slope in center. Dahl made up for that with a no-doubt solo bomb above the same spot in the seventh.
"This game’s not easy, it’s hard, but I feel good at the plate," Dahl said. "I’m just getting ready to hit on time. I’m not thinking about anything in the box. I’m just having enough time in the box where I can wait for my pitch, see it and hit it. That’s the big thing, I’m not thinking in the box at all."
Dahl now has 33 total bases in 31 at-bats with Albuquerque for a 1.065 slugging. In four games at Isotopes Park, he is 13-for-20.
"To his credit, he’s not surprised by what he’s doing," manager Glenallen Hill said. "He’s not trying to over-think it. He’s just enjoying the moment. He’s doing some things very well right now."
Not to be upstaged, all Murphy did was hit for the cycle. It’s the fifth cycle in Isotopes history and first since Robert Andino in August 2008. It was the first cycle in the Pacific Coast League since Adam Duvall had one for Sacramento in April 2015.
"I’ve never had one before, no," Murphy said. "My speed doesn’t usually allow me to have one."
The most amazing part was he did not get the triple until his final at-bat. Throughout the history of baseball the phrase "he finished a single shy of the cycle" has been printed countless times. On this night, Murphy would have none of that. He smashed a ball into right-center and never even once thought about slowing down.
"Nope, not a thought in my mind was stopping at second on that one," said Murphy, who was smiling ear to ear. "It was pretty much in the perfect spot in this ballpark and I was thinking three out of the box."
Murphy has 18 hits in his last 24 at-bats, including five home runs. He was only hitting .208 (31-for-149) before this surge.
"We’ve done some things physically, we’ve done some things mentally, so all of those things have come together and basically they’re getting him in touch with who he is," Hill said.
Dahl and Patterson went back-to-back with solo shots in the first inning that tied the game 2-2. It was another home run, though, that truly ignited the Isotopes’ dugout.
Mike Tauchman led off the third with a triple and then scored on on Jeff Bianchi’s single. Joey Wong followed with a double, giving Albuquerque a shot at a team cycle in four straight at-bats.
Up to the plate stepped relief pitcher Matt Flemer, who had replaced rehabbing Rockies starter Chris Rusin in the top of the inning. Armed with a Nolan Arenado bat that he borrowed from teammate Eddie Butler, Flemer unleashed an Arenado-like swing and crushed a three-run homer to left field.
"It was incredible," Murphy said. "It’s funny, because (Eddie Butler) came down with a couple bats and one of them was a Nolan Arenado. Basically we told Matt, hey man, you have to go with that one. That’s one of those things you can feed off for the rest of the game, the positive energy, and that’s what we did."
Flemer (5-3) also gave the Isotopes a desperately needed solid effort. Though he was charged with four runs on six hits and one walk, Flemer went 4.1 innings after Rusin had lasted just 1.2 innings.
"That’s been his role, he’s accepted that and he’s a competitor," Hill said. "He gives everything he’s got. We’re not surprised by what he’s doing."
Were the Isotopes surprised by the home run?
"Yeah, I was like, oh, my, get up, ball!" Hill said. "He has always said he can hit. In batting practice he puts up decent swings."
Other Isotopes who shined on the night included Scott Oberg, who came on in the ninth with the bases loaded and nobody out and then struck out three in a row to earn his eighth save. Among the other hitters, Patterson went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, while Bianchi was 3-for-4 with two RBI.
The Isotopes and Redbirds will clash again Friday at 7:05 p.m.