SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Christian Colon came into camp in an open competition with Omar Infante for the Royals' second base job.
Then the unthinkable happened: Colon, one of the heroes of Game 5 of the World Series, started the spring 0-for-23, a streak that extended into the Royals' 10-0 victory over the Cubs on Wednesday.
Colon even had resorted to putting a Jobu doll in his locker for good luck a few days ago.
"And even that wasn't working so I almost thought about getting rid of it," Colon said, smiling. "And then Moose [Mike Moustakas] gave it a few shots of rum, so maybe that helped."
Something worked. Colon scorched a ground-rule double to left in the fifth inning against the Cubs.The streak was over.
"A hundred percent, it felt good," Colon said. "Everyone in the dugout was really pumped. It just felt good to get hits, no matter if they count or not."
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When Colon looked in the dugout, virtually every player was saluting him.
"They tried getting the ball for me," Colon said. "But everyone was pumped. It was like, 'Hey, you did it!'"
Colon has hit into his fair share of hard luck this spring, including a hard lineout to third his first time up.
"I got to the dugout and all of the guys were giving me hugs," Colon said. "They kept saying, 'Looks like you need a hug.' But really, I'm just trying to put good at-bats together and I think I've been doing that. It'll be fine."