Major league baseball on Monday night and we will see the Houston Astros travel to Globe Life Park to take on the Texas Rangers. He joined John Reilly, Bob Meusel and Babe Herman as the only four players to hit for the cycle three times in their career.
Advertisement
Beltre, who finished 4-for-5, started his run to the cycle with a two-run triple in the first that was part of a six-run rally.
Beltre had a single in the third before his ninth homer of the season completed the cycle against the third Astros pitcher. While Beltre’s accomplishment on his own is impressive but what the Rangers, as a team, have done when it comes to hitting for the cycle is nothing short of astonishing. Then in the second inning, Luis Valbuena homered to right, cutting the Rangers lead to 6-3. 325 while averaging 6.5 runs in a 5-1 stretch, all at home.
Orioles skipper Buck Showalter earned his 1,313th career managerial victory, tying him with Hall of Famer Ned Hanlon for 31st all-time. Shawn Tolleson worked a flawless ninth inning for the Rangers and gained his nineteenth save of the season. 375 with four home runs in his last six games. But the right-hander was forced into action Monday with the Astros short in the bullpen, and he gave up five runs in his first inning.
“He’s our leader, and it’s just another testament, another story, another chapter in his book”, Rangers starting pitcher Colby Lewis said of Beltre, the 36-year-old third baseman in his 18th major-league season. He’s picked up the pace recently, and the team has as well, but believes that the cycle will have an ongoing positive effect on his season. Dave Winfield hit for the cycle at 39, making him the oldest player to do so, Mike Trout became the youngest when he did it at the age of 21.
Arizona’s Zack Godley continued the stellar start to his major-league career, pitching six scoreless innings to guide the Diamondbacks past Washingotn 6-4. Fiers is coming off of a 5-0 loss to the Giants where he gave up two runs on four hits in six frames. He did that one more time in the bottom of the ninth, when he hit an opposite-field, three-run homer for the walk-off victory. The Rangers are two games out of the AL wild-card race, but they have fierce competition with the Los Angeles Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays.
Advertisement
Astros: Dan Straily is getting called up from Triple-A Fresno to start Tuesday in place of Fiers, who ended up throwing five innings in relief Monday night. Schwarber actually made three outs in that game, the only player on this list to make more than one (Gonzalez and Donaldson made none), and his single in the third proved to be of no effect.
