Giants 3B Sandoval hits for cycle

Denver, CO – San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval hit for the cycle Thursday night against the Colorado Rockies.

Sandoval became the first Giants player to hit for the cycle since Fred Lewis accomplished the feat on May 13, 2007, also at Coors Field. Sandoval also became the 23rd player in Giants franchise history to do it and only the 10th San Francisco Giant.

Sandoval picked up the first leg of the feat when he blasted a pitch from Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin over the right field wall for a two-run homer in the opening inning. He singled up the middle in the second and ripped a double to left to start the fifth.

He came up to attempt the hardest part of the cycle in the sixth against Chacin. He drove a high fastball into the right-center field gap. The ball hit high off the wall and caromed away from right fielder Carlos Gonzalez, allowing Sandoval to hustle all the way and dive head first into third base.

He finished 4-for-4 with a run scored, helping the Giants down the Rockies 8-5 in the opener of a four game series, and pull within six games of Atlanta in the race for the National League wild card, and within seven games of Arizona for the National League Western Division title.