Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado completed the cycle in the most dramatic of ways: with a walk-off three-run home run, giving his team a 7-5 victory over the Giants on Sunday afternoon.
Arenado tripled but was stranded in the bottom of the first inning against starter Ty Blach. He singled to lead off the fourth and was stranded. He then ripped an RBI double off of Blach in the sixth to cut the Rockies’ deficit to 2-1 at the time. He struck out in the seventh against George Kontos, but redeemed himself in the ninth with a walk-off three-run home run against Mark Melancon, turning a 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 win.
Arenado is the eighth Rockie to hit for the cycle and the first since Michael Cuddyer accomplished the feat on August 17, 2014 against the Reds. Prior to Sunday, the last time the Giants gave up a cycle was to the Diamondbacks’ Kelly Johnson on July 23, 2010.
After Sunday’s performance, Arenado is hitting .299/.352/.573 with 15 home runs, 55 RBI, and 47 runs scored in 310 plate appearances. He’s currently holding a slight lead for the WAR lead among third basemen at 2.7, just ahead of Anthony Rendon (2.6) and Kris Bryant (2.4), according to FanGraphs.
