After the Red Sox took out the Braves 9-4 at Fenway Park on Tuesday, Brock Holt was talking to reporters about the amazing day that had when Pablo Sandoval told him in a playful manner to “Do it twice.” The Red Sox fans and sportsbook software services were truly impressed to see the player lace the triple, and are sure that this feat will go down in the history books.
The player found the idea funny, but was simply happy to have hit the cycle on this occasion, which proved to be the very first time that any baseball player did it for Boston since John Valentin on the 6th of June of 1996 – a date that many fans won’t forget.
It was almost 20 years since Boston hit the cycle, and this time around it could not have come at a better moment, since it helped the Red Sox put an end to a losing streak of seven games, but now things look differently for Boston.
The player went to the plate in the eighth inning, and he was well aware of the triple that was needed to finish the cycle.
“Obviously I knew I needed a triple. I didn’t expect to hit one, but as soon as barrel hit ball I was like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.’ Because once it gets in the triangle, anything is possible,” said Holt. “So I was just running on my horses and it worked out.”
The last player to finish a cycle thanks to a triple was Alex Rios on the 23rd of September of 2013, and now sportsbook software services can see that Holt happens to be the very first man for the Red Sox to successfully end a cycle with a triple since the 13th of May, 1980, when Fred Lynn hit it in a game against the Twins that day.
Throughout his career in the big league, Holt was able to make 6 homers and 8 triples, and and this proved to be the first one that went right over the famous Green Monster.
“I never expected to hit a ball over the Monster,” said Holt. “That one was pretty cool, too. I hit it good, and I knew Jonny Gomes knows how to play the Monster pretty well. I thought it was going to come off the Monster so I put my head down, I was running as hard as I could. I got to second base, got to second and heard cheers. I was looking around, ‘Where’s the ball? Where’s the ball?’ I was still sprinting, so when I crossed home plate Mookie [Betts] was laughing pretty good at me.”
When speaking about Betts, he only came a hit shy of the cycle. Hit his triple, and next in line was Betts. The player needed to hit a homer if he wanted to finish the job, but it ended up flying out.
“I didn’t [realize it] until I took the first pitch and kind of looked over at the dugout and everyone was kind of looking at me,” Betts said. “Then I looked up at the scoreboard and I saw it. At that point, I was pretty much just trying to hit a homer.”
As Dustin Pedroia couldn’t play due to a sore eft knee, Holt was the one to step to the leadoff position, and at second base he took Pedroia’s place, giving the Red Sox a huge boost. Holt turned into the first leadoff player for the Red Sox since 1943 – when Leon Culberson did it – to hit the cycle.
“I’ve hit leadoff my whole life,” said Holt. “I saw I was hitting leadoff today, playing second base, I was just, ‘Don’t screw up too bad. The guy’s spot you’re in right now is pretty dang good.’ I just went out there, tried to get good pitches to hit, put together good ABs and it worked out today.”
“Big day at the plate. He has been on a good run here of late in the two-hole and today, obviously, in the leadoff spot where he has been getting on base multiple times,” said John Farrell, the team’s manager. “He really squared up some balls today. It goes without saying any time a guy hits for the cycle he’s had a stellar day, and that was today for Brock.”
