Wednesday was a very good day for Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner. Turner celebrated his 28th birthday, first and foremost, and birthdays are always cool. Happy birthday, Trea.
To celebrate his birthday, Turner went out and hit for the cycle against the Tampa Bay Rays (WAS 15, TB 6). Turner singled against Drew Rasmussen in the first, doubled against Ryan Sherriff in the third, homered against Michael Wacha in the fourth, and completed the cycle with a triple against Wacha in the sixth.
Turner is the first place in baseball history to hit for the cycle on his birthday. All told, he went 4 for 4 with four runs scored Wednesday. Turner also stole two bases and is hitting .318/.367/.513 on the season.
The cycle is the third of Turner’s career. He also hit for the cycle on April 25, 2017, and July, 23, 2019, both against the Rockies. Turner is the fifth player in history with three career cycles, joining Adrián Beltré, Babe Herman, Bob Meusel, and John Reilly.
Given his age and skill set, Turner would seem to have an excellent chance to record a fourth career cycle at some point. He runs like the wind, he has power, and he still has a lot of years in this game ahead of him. Heck, Turner could shatter the career cycles record.
There have now been five cycles in Nationals history. Turner has three and Cristian Guzman (August 28, 2008) and Brad Wilkerson (April 6, 2005) have one each. The franchise had six cycles during the Expos years.
Turner is the first player to hit for the cycle since Blue Jays infielder Cavan Biggio on Sept. 17, 2019. He exited Wednesday’s game with a hammed finger in the seventh inning and is day-to-day.