Rays Sluggers Craft Unique Cycle During Showdown with Angels
The Tampa Bay Rays didn’t put on a historic show against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday. But they did do something unique.
In the seventh inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the Rays were down, 2-0, with the Angels’ Ben Joyce coming in to pitch for Ryan Zeferjahn.
The first hitter he faced was Junior Caminero, who is off to a solid start at the plate but hasn’t hit a home run yet.
Well, he took care of that in short order, taking Joyce long and putting Tampa Bay up on the board for the first time and cutting the Angels lead to 2-1. His home run was accompanied by something Rays fans aren’t used to at Tropicana Field — full-scale fireworks.
First Cami crush of the szn feels so right pic.twitter.com/uNfx5ytCBe
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 9, 2025
The Rays are playing at Steinbrenner Field, the home of the New York Yankees’ Class-A Tampa Tarpons, this season as Hurricane Milton rendered the Trop unusable this season.
That got things started for the Rays. Jonathan Aranda followed Caminero and singled to right field to put the tying run on base.
Next, Christopher Morel doubles to center field. That brought Aranda around to score and tie the game at 2-2. Morel then advanced to third base on a throwing error by Angels shortstop Tim Anderson.
Heads up: We got Morel runs scoring pic.twitter.com/fMscBm8iuT
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 9, 2025
With the game tied and Morel at third, Kameron Misner brought him home with a triple to center field and gave the Rays a 3-2 lead.
And that completes a lil 7th inning cycle for the boys pic.twitter.com/nAYCeSE3Vv
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 9, 2025
The lead didn’t stand up, though. The Rays gave up a run to the Angels in the eighth and the ninth inning for a 4-3 loss.
No, this was not a traditional cycle. But, in order, the Rays had a home run, a single, a double and a triple to start the seventh.
A traditional cycle in baseball is by one player. It’s designated as a batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. There is also a natural cycle, which is a player hitting a single, double, triple and home run in that order. Only 15 players have accomplished that feat.
The Rays played their first season as a franchise in 1996. In the 29-year history of the team only two players have hit a traditional cycle. The first was B.J. Upton, who did it on Oct. 2, 2009. The second was Evan Longoria, who did it on Aug. 1, 2017.
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Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers MLB and College Sports for On SI. He also covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com.