ARLINGTON, Texas — Adrian Beltre became the first major leaguer since the 1930s to hit for his third career cycle and the Texas Rangers held on for a wild 12-9 victory over the AL West-leading Houston Astros on Monday night.
Beltre’s solo homer in the fifth, a liner deep into the seats in left field, completed the cycle against three Houston pitchers.
A two-run triple by Beltre in the first inning put the Rangers ahead to stay at 3-2. He had a double in the second and a single in the third before his ninth homer of the season made it 12-7.
All three of Beltre’s cycles have come at the Rangers’ ballpark, two for the home team and one as a visitor when he was playing for Seattle on Sept. 1, 2008. The third baseman’s other cycle for Texas was Aug. 24, 2012, against Minnesota.
The last major leaguer with three career cycles was Babe Herman, who had two in 1931 and one in 1933, according to research provided by the Elias Sports Bureau to the Rangers. The only other big leaguers with three career cycles are Bob Meusel (1921, 1922 and 1928) and John Reilly (twice in 1883 and 1890).
Colby Lewis (12-4) had to work hard over six innings for his fourth consecutive victory, giving up seven runs and 10 hits — three of those home runs. The right-hander is 8-1 in 14 career games against Astros, who previously scored only 17 runs in 75 1-3 innings off Lewis.
Shawn Tolleson worked the ninth for his 19th save in 20 chances.
Lance McCullers (5-4), at 21 the youngest starting pitcher in the majors, allowed six runs and seven hits while getting only one out. That came five days after he gave up only one run over seven innings to beat the Los Angeles Angels.
Jason Castro hit a grand slam for Houston, his third homer in 14 at-bats, after rookie Carlos Correa had a two-run shot to put the Astros ahead in the first. Luis Valbuena’s solo homer in the second was his 20th of the season, but first in 83 at-bats since June 23.
Beltre was one of five Rangers players with multiple RBIs in the game.
Shin-Soo Choo, who had a cycle for Texas last month at Colorado, homered to cap the six-run first. Prince Fielder had two RBI singles.
Rougned Odor had a two-run triple when the Rangers scored five runs in the third off Mike Fiers, whose American League debut had been scheduled as the starter Tuesday night. He was traded from Milwaukee on Thursday.
Josh Fields threw 1 2-3 scoreless innings in relief of McCullers before Fiers allowed six runs and seven hits over five innings. Fiers struck out six.
It was the ninth cycle in Rangers’ history, their sixth since the beginning of the 2009 season, twice as many as any other team in the major leagues in that span. Arizona and Colorado both have three cycles in that time.
Arizona in 2012 was the last team with two cycles in the same season. The last American League team with multiple cycles in the same year was Minnesota in 2009.
Via AP