Tri-cycle: Beltre hits for third career cycle as Rangers win wild one against Astros

The Texas Rangers have a tendency of scoring plenty of runs when right-hander Colby Lewis starts a game, and they took that to an extreme Monday night to kick off an all-important series.

Especially Adrian Beltre, who had hit for the cycle by the fifth inning.

And it’s a good thing, too.

Lewis didn’t have much for the Houston Astros, but the Rangers’ bats had Lewis’ back. They scored six times in the first inning, reached double-digits in runs by the third inning and Adrian Beltre homered in the fifth for his third career cycle en route to a 12-9 victory.

Beltre hit for the Rangers’ ninth cycle and became the fourth player in major league history with three career cycles. Not bad for a player who is swinging a bat with only nine healthy fingers.

“It’s nice to have a game like this,” Beltre said. “It gets the confidence up. I’ve been working on my swing to get more consistent. I haven’t been driving the ball the way I need to but the last few days something has clicked.”

Beltre started his cycle bid with a two-run triple in the first, added a double in the second, singled in the third and homered with one out in the fifth. He popped out in the seventh with the Rangers up 12-9.

“I knew I had a single, double and a triple,” Beltre said. “I’m not going to lie: I was looking for a homer.”

All three of Beltre’s cycles have come at Globe Life Park, the first as a member of the Seattle Mariners on Sept. 1, 2008. He also did it Aug. 24, 2012, against Minnesota, and the one Monday was the first in only five innings since B.J. Upton did it in 2009 for Tampa Bay.

Beltre and Shin-Soo Choo became the first Rangers duo to hit for the cycle in the same season. Choo did it July 21 at Colorado.

The only others in major league history to hit three career cycles were John Reilly, Bob Meusel and Babe Herman, but Beltre is the first since Herman got his third in 1933.

For Beltre, the cycle is the highlight of a season that has been plagued by the left thumb he sprained May 31. He returned June 23 but struggled until the past 21 games.

After his average dipped to .244, Beltre has batted .349 (29 for 83). He has 10 hits in the past four games and is batting .433 (13 for 30) through eight games of the current homestand with two of the three homers he has hit in the past 40 games.

The Rangers’ offense, coincidentally, is averaging more than five runs a game with their right-handed-hitting cleanup hitter starting to heat up.

“Our offense and Beltre heating up at the same time, I think there’s a strong correlation there,” manager Jeff Banister said. “Those two young guys at the top of the lineup being able to get on base in front of Fielder and Beltre. You have to pick your poison right now with those guys.”

Lewis won his 12th game despite allowing seven runs on 10 hits in six innings, including a grand slam to Jason Castro.

Carlos Correa, the Astros’ budding star at shortstop, hit the first of three homers off Lewis in the first with a two-run drive that hit the left-field foul pole. Luis Valbuena hit a solo shot with two outs in the second, and Castro cleared the bases in the fourth with a towering drive down the right-field line.

That made it 11-7 after the Rangers scored six times against another rising star for the Astros, Lance McCullers. The first five reached, and Choo went deep for a two-run shot to make it 6-2.

Bobby Wilson had an RBI double to jump-start a five-run third. Rougned Odor followed two batters later with a two-run double, and he scored on a single by Prince Fielder. Mitch Moreland had his second RBI two batters later.

Lewis rebounded from the Castro grand slam to post two scoreless innings, retiring seven of the final nine batters he faced. The Astros scored two in the seventh off Spencer Patton, but Sam Freeman and Sam Dyson tossed a scoreless eighth and Shawn Tolleson recorded his 19th save with a perfect ninth.

This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Tri-cycle: Beltre hits for third career cycle as Rangers win wild one against Astros."