Beltre homered in his fourth at-bat to complete his third career cycle, becoming the first player since the 1930s to accomplish that, in the Texas Rangers’ wild 12-9 victory over the AL West-leading Houston Astros on Monday night. Brock Holt of the Boston Red Sox did it in June while Beltre’s teammate Shin-Soo Choo did it last month.
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Oddly enough, all three of Beltre’s cycles occured at the Rangers’ home stadium in Arlington, Texas.
And while that makes him the answer to the trivia question, the more important thing is that he powered a 12-9 win over the Astros that brought the Rangers back up to a game south of.
Since 1901, when the founding of the American League marks the start of the modern era, only Babe Herman, with two in 1931 and one in 1933, and Bob Meusel, in 1921, 1922, and 1928, have amassed three career cycles. Starter Colby Lewis was charged with seven runs on ten hits including three long balls through six innings. He hit a two-run triple and later scored as part of a six-run first inning.
Kluber (6-12) gave up five runs in 5 2-3 innings. “I was looking for a home run”.
The Rangers led 11-3 in the third inning after scoring five runs off Fiers, who was scheduled to start Tuesday’s game but entered early after Astros starter Lance McCullers was knocked out in the first.
Adrian Beltre had a historic night for the Texas Rangers on Monday.
Before that? Six starts in which he averaged just shy of seven innings averaging about 2 1/2 runs.
Trailing 8-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Rockies scored three runs and had runners at the corners with two outs before Carson Smith induced a game-ending fly out from Blackmon for his 10th save.
The Astros took two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend while the Rangers notched the same result against the San Francisco Giants.
A cycle is defined as a player who hits for a single, double, triple and homer all in one game.
Rangers starting pitcher Colby Lewis enthused, “He’s our leader, and it’s just another testament, another story, another chapter in his book”, while manager Jeff Banister echoed, “What an incredible feat for him”. No one seems to be talking about this Rangers team, but with the way they are playing and finding themselves just two games back, Rangers fans have to like where they stand.
Texas Rangers’ Adrian Beltre is congratulated by Mitch Moreland, … He has allowed run or less in four of his last six outings and three earned runs or fewer in 12 of 13 career starts.
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Houston opens up a 10-game road trip and has won two straight contests while Texas resumes a 10-match homestand having won four of its last five games.
