Olivares collects first Class A cycle of '17

Most Minor Leaguers look for ways to showcase their strongest tools in every game. On Monday, Edward Olivares found one.
"I am that kind of guy who hits the ball hard and runs a lot," the Toronto outfield prospect said through translator and teammate Osman Gutierrez. "I'm trying every day to have that kind of game."
In this case, "that kind of game" resulted in hitting for the cycle. The 21-year-old became the first Midwest League player to pull off the feat since 2014 and the first Lansing hitter to do so since Brad Glenn on July 26, 2010. Olivares went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Class A Lugnuts to an 11-5 win over the South Bend Cubs.

Box score
He was awarded a game ball for the performance.
"I feel very excited about that, because that's the first time that happened to me," the native of Venezuela said. "I'm trying to get calls through to my family, because they are going to be very happy for me."
Olivares spent 2014, his first pro season, in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League, then the next two seasons in the Rookie-level Appalachian League. He entered 2017 with a career .264 average and 26 extra-base hits over 93 games, but he brought a .172 mark into Monday's action despite knocking three homers and a pair of doubles. After his first stateside four-hit game, he's boosted his average to .217 and on-base percentage to .250.

"I worked a lot during the offseason and I've been trying to pull that into the games," Olivares said. "I don't think too much about [things like] the cycle or the result. I just try to hit the ball hard. I've been trying to get better every day, trying to do my best to help the team, so this is a good day."
In his first two at-bats, he faced third-ranked Cubs prospect and No. 71 overall prospectDylan Cease, who's also the reigning Midwest League Pitcher of the Week.
"I didn't think too much about his name," Olivares said, "but I was only trying to hit the ball to the opposite field, because I saw his pitching chart. I thought I [would get a pitch to go the other way with], and I knew he throws hard."
In the second-inning meeting of the right-on-right matchup, the batter fell behind, 0-2, before lining the third pitch into left field for a double. One frame later, Olivares was down once more, 0-2, and this time, his opposite-field plan worked -- he poked a grounder through the right side for a single.
In the fifth, he drove a 2-1 pitch from Pedro Silverio over the fence in left. After that, lots of people in the Lansing dugout had the cycle on their mind. 
"I told him, 'Hey, if you hit the ball to right field, you just keep running for third,'" right-handed pitcher Gutierrez said. "[Manager Cesar Martin] told him too. He told him if he hits the ball somewhere far into the outfield, run hard for third base."
But Olivares insisted he wasn't thinking about a triple when he stepped in against left-hander Marc Huberman with two outs and two on in the eighth. 

"The only thing I thought when I came up was, 'hit the ball hard.' That was the only thing," he said.
He got into a 2-0 count, gapped the next offering to right-center and raced into third.
No. 13 Blue Jays prospectJ.B. Woodman homered, doubled, plated two and scored twice and No. 31 overall prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled and scored a run.
Cease gave up three runs on six hits and three walks while fanning five over four innings and did not factor in the decision. He entered the game having allowed only one run through three starts.