MIAMI.- When reviewing offensive statistics from the last five years, the name of Cuban Yordan Álvarez always comes up. Now he is also among the players who have hit for the cycle in one game.
Although Alvarez went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, his Houston Astros fell 6-4 and were unable to complete the sweep of the Seattle Mariners.
Alvarez singled in the first inning and then hit a solo homer in the fourth, both times off starter and game winner Bryan Woo (4-1). He then added a triple in the sixth off reliever Tayler Saucedo, whom manager Scott Servais brought in just to face him, and closed with his eighth-inning double off Dominican Gregory Santos.
“I’m really excited,” he told MLB.com. “I felt a little bit of pressure there, but I knew I needed a double and when I hit the ball, I was like, ‘There it is.’”
The Cuban, when questioned by reporters, said that he had not even managed to achieve a cycle “on the PlayStation.” So, according to the player himself, this Sunday afternoon is the first of its kind for him in his entire career, even in Cuba when he was a child.
Álvarez is the second Cuban to hit for the offensive cycle in the Major Leagues, something that his compatriot (and teammate until a few weeks ago) José Abreu also achieved in 2017 facing the San Francisco Giants while playing for the Chicago White Sox, according to the specialized website for baseball players from the largest of the Antilles, pelotacubanausa.com.
“That’s not easy to do, especially for a hitter,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He was able to hit the ball, which looked like 500 feet, that home run. And then to be able to hit a triple just tells you not only how good a hitter he is, but how athletic he is.”
