Marlins’ Luis Arraez records first cycle in franchise history vs. Phillies

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By Webdesk


Miami Marlins vs Philadelphia Phillies
Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

Luis Arraez recorded the first cycle in Miami Marlins franchise history on Tuesday night, accomplishing the feat in an 8-4 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies (box score). Arraez’s cycle was also the first of the 2023 Major League Baseball season and the first since St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado did so on July 1 — also coincidentally against the Phillies.

Arraez, a 26-year-old infielder acquired in an offseason trade from the Minnesota Twins that sent North right-hander Pablo López, started his night with a first-inning double against Aaron Nola. He lined out in his next at bat, in the third inning, before hitting a triple in the sixth to get the most challenging part out of the way. Arraez then homered in the seventh inning against Connor Brogdon before finishing the cycle against another Phillies reliever and scoring an eighth inning single off Andrew Bellatti.

Watch the capper in the moving image form:

Arraez is, of course, one of the best contact hitters in the majors. But while he’s blessed with excellent bat-to-ball skills—his career batting average was .319 Tuesday—he’s neither strong nor fast. Indeed, he homered and tripled a combined 22 runs in his first 400 big league-games.

Arraez entered Tuesday’s game with .500/.571/.556 (207 OPS+) with two extra-base hits (both doubles) and three more walks than strikeouts (three) in his first 11 games this season.

There were five cycles in MLB last season, four in 2021 and six in 2019. No one succeeded as part of the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. In other words, Arraez may be the first, but he probably won’t be the last to log a cycle between now and the end of the season.





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