Savoring a special moment with teammates

Just like everything else he did Tuesday night, Missions batting standout Trent Grisham made it look easy when he stepped to the plate in the seventh inning and tripled into the right field corner at Wolff Stadium.
Naturally, after he sped around the bases and slid safely into third to complete the cycle, he looked up to see his teammates in full celebration mode in the dugout.
"It's always fun when your teammates are cheering for you and everyone's all excited for you," Grisham said. "That was fun."
For Grisham, the feeling of satisfaction over one of the most coveted individual achievements in baseball grew substantially a few innings later after the Missions finished off the Sacramento River Cats, 8-4, in the first game of a seven-game homestand.
 "It was exciting just to win," he said, "to be able to enjoy it and celebrate it with the team."
The Missions have been winning and celebrating quite a bit lately.
They've won five in a row to keep building on the best record in the Pacific Coast League and in all of Triple-A baseball.
Highlighting the latest victory was Grisham, a 22-year-old prodigy from Fort Worth who moved up from Double-A Biloxi on June 20 to super-charge the Missions' offense.
In the opener of a three-game series against Sacramento, he fueled it further with 5-for-5 performance, including home runs in his first two at bats, followed by a single, a double and then a triple.
It was the first cycle in eight years for the Missions, who peppered the River Cats with 12 hits.
"The guys kept the offense going all night, obviously led by Grisham," said Charlie Greene, the Milwaukee Brewers' field coordinator and acting manager for the Missions. "You don't see a cycle, (with) two home runs and then single, double, triple. He's continued to swing the bat all year here. It was great to see (a cycle) from him."
Greene came in to San Antonio this week to step in for Rick Sweet, who's taking a mandated four-game vacation.
A former major league catcher who works at all levels of the Brewers' organization, Greene arrived just in time to see Grisham's tour de force.
"He had a great offseason, obviously," Greene said. "He came in this spring, was a man on a mission, and it showed. Even in his cold streaks, he's been hitting the ball hard. He's been locked in. I mean, geez, he's hitting breaking balls, fast balls. He's pulling balls.
"He's crushing 'em. This is a hell of a run. I've seen him on (livestream) TV. But this is the first time (for me) live."
With the home runs he hit in the first and second innings against Sacramento, Grisham has totaled 13 in Triple-A to match the 13 he hit earlier in the season in Double-A.
His five hits pushed his batting average with the Missions to an eye-opening .381.
It's dramatic change for a player who was only a .242 hitter in four seasons since he was drafted in the first round as an 18-year-old out of Richland High School in 2015.
Grisham acknowledged the highs and lows of his journey in the pros.
"I struggled the first two or three years, having a tough time at the plate, just trying to figure it all out," he said. "It just kind of came together this year. All the confidence came back. All the plate discipline. And, of course, hitting the ball harder.
"It's been a fun journey so far. But it's definitely not over yet."
The cycle was the second of Grisham's pro career after he did it once in his first season.
He said he didn't think about the possibility that he could do it again until he reached the on-deck circle in the seventh inning.
At that point, he looked around at Missions teammate Hernán Pérez, who started joking with him.
"Hernan was messing around and talking to me," Grisham said. "It really wasn't in my head at all. (But) as soon as you hit it, of course it pops into your head. You just run. Run and hope for the best."
Daniel Robertson had the last cycle for the Missions on May 2, 2011, against Midland.
Meanwhile, Perez went 2-for-4 with a homer to extend his batting streak to 12 games. David Freitas also had two hits to give him eight in three games since he returned from paternity leave.
Thomas Jankins pitched five innings and picked up his 10^th victory.
PCL standings
American Southern Division - San Antonio 68-40, Round Rock 63-44, New Orleans 56-50, Oklahoma City 50-57.
Pacific Northern Division -Sacramento 58-50, Fresno 53-55, Tacoma 50-58, Reno 49-59.
Dave Brundage's day
Sacramento manager Dave Brundage said it felt good when he was met by several members of the Missions' front-office staff as he arrived at the stadium Tuesday afternoon.
"It meant a lot to me," he said.
Brundage, who won two Texas League titles for the Missions in 2002 and 2003, said after the game he didn't feel so good about the River Cats' performance.
Especially some missed opportunities in the first inning, when the PCL's Pacific Northern Division leaders settled for only one run when they could have had several.
"Then we turn right back around and give up three in the (bottom of the) first," he said. "We lose our momentum, and momentum is on their side … (and) we end up chasing tail for the rest of the game."
Starting rotation
The Missions are expected to start Aaron Wilkerson on Wednesday and Burch Smith on Thursday against the River Cats.
Newcomer Trey Supak will get his first start at home on Friday in the opener against Fresno. Zack Brown is slated to start on Saturday.
Big league background
Both Wilkerson and Smith have pitched in the big leagues within the past five weeks. Smith has been called up three times in July.
Improving defense
The Missions' defense has been getting progressively better, moving from near the bottom of the league standings in fielding percentage at the start of the season and into a tie for eighth (.978) going into Tuesday night.
After committing 23 errors in April and 29 in May, the Missions' defense has turned it around to make 16 errors in June and only 15 this month.
The Missions played error-free baseball on a recent three-game road trip to Omaha and did it again in Game 1 of the series against Sacramento.
Erceg on the mend
Missions third baseman Lucas Erceg is out for "a couple of days" with a jammed hip, Greene said.
Erceg was hurt in Omaha on Sunday, on the last day of the road trip, when he slipped after stepping on first base while running out a ground ball.
The Missions are 38-20 when Erceg starts at third.