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 home run in the fifth, a liner deep into the seats in left field, completed the cycle against three Houston pitchers -- Lance McCullers, Mike Fiers and Josh Fields.
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 home run 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 6 innings for his fourth consecutive victory, giving up 7 runs and 10 hits -- three of those home runs. The right-hander is 8-1 in 14 career games against the 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.
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 home run in 14 at-bats, after rookie Carlos Correa had a two-run shot to put the Astros ahead in the first. Luis Valbuena's home run in the second was his 20th of the season, but first in 83 at-bats since June 23.
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.
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.
BLUE JAYS 5, TWINS 1 David Price struck out 11 over eight innings to win his Blue Jays debut, Josh Donaldson hit a tiebreaking home run and host Toronto beat Minnesota in the opener of a four-game series between AL wild-card contenders. Price (10-4) allowed one run and three hits. Torii Hunter (Pine Bluff) homered for the Twins.
RAYS 5, WHITE SOX 4 Mikie Mahtook singled with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to drive in Logan Forsythe (Arkansas Razorbacks) and gave visiting Tampa Bay a victory over Chicago. Forsythe started the winning rally with a one-out walk. Evan Longoria had three hits and an RBI.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
METS 12, MARLINS 1 Yoenis Cespedes hit three doubles and New York took over first place in the NL East, routing host Miami. Fresh off sweeping Washington, the Mets won their fourth in a row and moved a game ahead of the Nationals for the division lead. Cespedes, acquired last week from Detroit, played for the third time with the Mets and tied the team record for doubles in a game. He drove in four runs.
D-BACKS 6, NATIONALS 4 Rookie Zack Godley pitched six scoreless innings and visiting Arizona homered four times to send Washington to a fourth consecutive loss. Nick Ahmed homered and had four hits as the Diamondbacks improved to 5-2 on their 10-game, bi-coastal road trip.
BRAVES 9, GIANTS 8 (12) Adonis Garcia hit a two-run home run in the 12th inning off Ryan Vogelsong and host Atlanta completed its final comeback of the game, beating San Francisco. Down 6-0 against Matt Cain going into the sixth, the Braves rallied with four runs. A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth off Santiago Casilla, tying it at 7-7.
PADRES 13, BREWERS 5 Yangervis Solarte hit two home runs and Tyson Ross pitched six innings to help visiting San Diego rout Milwaukee.
INTERLEAGUE
MARINERS 8, ROCKIES 7 Felix Hernandez pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Nelson Cruz homered in a fourth consecutive game to reach 30 for the season, and visiting Seattle held off Colorado. Kyle Seager homered on the front end of back-to-back shots with Cruz, and Brad Miller added a home run among his three hits for the Mariners, who have won three of four since dropping four consecutive.
Sports on 08/04/2015