DETROIT -- Jake Bauers’ brain was telling him one thing. Go to left center field, stay in your lane, don’t get out of your swing.

Shane Bieber and Zach Plesac were telling him something far different. It went something along the lines of “Opposite field? What’s wrong with you? We don’t need no stinking opposite field. Go for it.”

Said Bieber, “It didn’t take much convincing.”

The situation couldn’t have been better. Bauers already had a single, double and triple. The swinging-bunt single and triple came in an eight-run fourth inning that gave the Indians a 10-3 lead over the Tigers. By the eighth inning, the Indians were up, 11-3. There were two outs, Jose Ramirez was on first base and lefty Blaine Hardy was on the mound.

Bauers was thinking cycle since he tripled in the fourth inning. But he was also thinking about his first 63 games this season and the .209 average hanging around his neck. He’s been trying to use the whole field, to stop pulling the ball so much and he’d done just that on his triple to left center field in the fourth.

Then again, how many chances does a player get to hit for the cycle? It may seem like it happens every day because Shohei Ohtani of the Angels hit one Thursday, but it doesn’t.

The Indians have been playing baseball since 1901. They’ve had 14 no-hitters in their history. They’ve had eight cycles. Make that nine.

Bauers went to the plate in the eighth inning for his a left-on-left matchup with Hardy. He hit the first pitch he saw, sending it high and deep over the wall in right. You could see him smiling from the press box and he pointed to the Indians dugout during his home run trot.

“Yeah I was pointing to the dugout and then also I had to give Biebs a little special love," said Bauers. "I was talking to him before I went up there and I told him, ‘I don’t know man, I think I’m just going to try and stay left-center and get a base hit where the shortstop should be.’ And he’s like, ‘Dude, you got to try to hit a homer.’ He talked me into it a little bit, (I) caught something out in front and luckily it went out.”

Said Bieber, “He went out there and did it. It was kind of a no-doubter right? He found me and Plesac because we were the ones talking to him. He found us right away.”

Baseball is a day to day test and Bauers has been struggling. He knows Bobby Bradley is in Class AAA Columbus sitting on 20 homers -- he hit No. 19 and No. 20 Friday night -- and 50 RBI. Bradley plays first base and DH -- Bauers’ primary positions.

Bauers knows he has two minor league options left and that he is being measured against Yandy Diaz, the muscular infielder that the Indians sent to Tampa Bay in exchange for Bauers in December. If you’re keeping score at home, Diaz went 3-for-4 Friday night against the Angels and is hitting .282 (64-for-227) with 10 homers and 27 RBI.

“You block it out when you’re here,” said Bauers, when asked about the possibility of getting sent down. “I’m sure every negative thought that you can think of is running through pretty much everyone in the clubhouse’s head at some point. This game is extremely pressure-filled, so you do the best you can to show up every day with a good attitude and work hard. That’s it.”

Friday afternoon manager Terry Francona called Bauers into his office to talk. He’s done it a couple of times this season. Afterward, when Francona met with reporters, he was asked about Bauers and if he would be better served in the minors.

“We’re not there yet,” said Francona.

Bauers appreciated the conversation.

“It’s extremely reassuring," he said. "A lot of pressure goes into playing this game, especially at the highest level, so any time you hear that from someone like him, it’s, like you said, it’s very reassuring.”

Did the talk lead to the cycle? Francona stepped into the background on that question.

“Well, I mean he did it," said Francona. "I have a responsibility to try to help, but he’s responsible for what happened. And I’m proud of him because we talked for a long time, but he’s the one that did it.”

Bauers said club officials were still looking for the home run ball that completed the cycle. But he didn’t seem too concerned if they found it or not.

“I don’t know if they got it,” said Bauers. “To be honest, it’s not even about that. It’s more about just that experience and those memories that are made.”

Here are the nine Indians who have hit for the cycle:

No.1: Bill Bradley, 9-24-1903, @Washington.

No. 2: Earl Averill, 8-17-1933 vs. Philadelphia.

No. 3: Odell Hale, 7-12-1938 @Washington.

No. 4: Larry Doby, 6-4-1952 @Boston.

No. 5: Tony Horton, 7-2-1970 @Baltimore.

No. 6 Andre Thornton, 4-22-1978 @Boston.

No. 7 Travis Hafner, 8-14-2003 @Minnesota.

No. 8: Rajai Davis, 7-2-2016 @Toronto.

No. 9: Jake Bauers, 6-14-2019 @Detroit.

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