Adrian Beltre needs just five innings for the third cycle of his career

By D.J. ShortAug 3, 2015, 11:01 PM EDT
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Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre hit for the cycle tonight against the Astros. And he needed just five innings to do it.

Beltre had a two-run triple in the first inning before reaching on a double in the second and a single in the third. That put him just a home run away. The veteran slugger remedied that in his very next at-bat, taking Mike Fiers deep for a solo shot. Check it out below:

This was the third cycle of Beltre’s career, which puts him in some crazy company.

According to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, Beltre is the first player to complete a cycle by the fifth inning since B.J. Upton in 2009.

Pirates hire Ben Cherington as their new general manager

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By Craig CalcaterraNov 15, 2019, 1:39 PM EST
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The Pittsburgh Pirates have hired Ben Cherington as the team’s new general manager. They do so after the general manager meetings ended, but better late than never.

Cherington served as GM of the Boston Red Sox for four years, winning the World Series in 2013, but resigned during the 2015 season after Dave Dombrowski was named Boston’s new president of baseball operations. Which was a defacto demotionn for Cherington who, until then, had the final say in baseball decisions. Dombrowski, of course, was fired late in the season this year. Cherington went on to work for the Toronto Blue Jays as a vice president, but was seen as biding his time for another GM position. Now he has one.

Cherington takes over in Pittsburgh for executive vice president and general manager Neal Huntington, who was fired after a 12 years at the helm. Also fired was team president Frank Coonelly. Travis Williams replaced Coonelly recently. While the Pirates experienced a few years of contention under Huntington and Coonelly, they have slid out of contention in recent years as the club has traded away promising players for little return, all while cutting payroll. There’s a very big rebuilding job ahead of Cherington.

The first move he’ll have to make: hire a manager, as the team still hasn’t replaced Clint Hurdle since he was dismissed in the final weekend of the regular season.