Rangers recap: Beltre joins elite company with third-career cycle as Texas thumps Astros
Adrian Beltre became the fourth player in the history of the major leagues to hit for the cycle three or more times as he helped power the Texas Rangers to a 12-9 win against the Houston Astros Monday night at Globe Life Park. Beltre is the first player since Babe Herman in 1933 to collect three cycles in his career.
Pitching: Carlos Correa’s two-run homer off the left-field foul pole against Colby Lewis in the first gave the Astros a quick lead. The Astros added another run in the second on a Luis Valbuena homer. Jason Castro’s grand slam in the fourth pulled the Astros to within 11-7. Lewis left after six innings. He was charged with seven earned runs on 10 hits and a walk. He struck out three. Spencer Patton started the seventh and allowed a two-out, two-run double by Colby Rasmus that cut Texas’ lead to 12-9. Shawn Tolleson pitched the ninth to earn his 19th save.
Hitting: The Rangers knocked Astros starter Lance McCullers out of the game with just one out in the first after scoring six runs on seven hits and a walk. Shin-Soo Choo homered and Beltre tripled in the inning. Texas scored five more runs in the third after seven consecutive batters reached safely with one out, including Rougned Odor’s two-run triple and Bobby Wilson’s run-scoring double. Beltre doubled in the second, singled in the third and homered in the fifth. Along with Beltre, Odor, Wilson, Prince Fielder, Mitch Moreland and Elvis Andrus all had at least two hits. The only Rangers without a hit was Josh Hamilton, who went 0 for 5.
Notable: Beltre has three triples, the most in a season for him since four in 2006 ... he collected his third cycle, all at Globe Life Park ... Beltre is the fourth player in MLB history to hit for the cycle three or more times ... it’s ninth cycle in Rangers history ... Rangers six runs in the first inning are the most runs in the 1st inning for the club since May 25, 2012.
This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 10:32 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Beltre joins elite company with third-career cycle as Texas thumps Astros."