ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani became the first Japanese-born player in major league history to hit for the cycle on Thursday night in a 5-3 win against the Rays.
Ohtani, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, sprayed hits all over Tropicana Field, and accomplished all of the most difficult tasks of a cycle before completing the feat with a seventh-inning single.
Ohtani needed only a single going into his fourth at bat, and he looped a single off right-hander Hunter Wood into right-center field over second baseman Brandon Lowe.
He homered off Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough in his first at bat, hitting an opposite field three-run homer that just cleared the left-center field fence to give the Angels a quick 3-0 first-inning lead.
Ohtani led off the third inning with a double to right-center field, then tripled down the right-field line in his third at bat in the fifth inning.
The reigning AL Rookie of the Year became the eighth Angels player to hit for the cycle and the first since Mike Trout on May 21, 2013.
He is also the third player to record a cycle at Tropicana Field, but the first in nearly a decade. Most recently, B.J. Upton accomplished the feat with the Rays against the Yankees on Oct. 2, 2009. Detroit's Carlos Guillen recorded the first Trop cycle on Aug. 8, 2006.
