Trea Turner hustled around the bases after hitting the ball down the right field line. When he dove into third, his helmet flew off and Nationals fans erupted in excitement.
The sixth-inning extra-base hit completed Turner’s third-career cycle — this time on his birthday.
The 28-year-old shortstop tied the MLB record in cycles, leading the Nationals over the Tampa Bay Rays 15-6 on Wednesday at Nationals Park.
Turner finished the game 4-for-4 with four runs scored, a double, triple and home run.
Tampa Bay jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning after Manuel Margot scored on a sacrifice fly from Randy Arozarena and Yandy Diaz clubbed a 424-foot solo shot to left field.
The Nationals didn’t waste any time to answer with a pair of their own runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Turner hit a one-out single to right and Juan Soto walked, setting up a double steal to put two runners in scoring position for Bell. The five-year veteran’s two-run single to center scored Turner and Soto to tie the game.
Nationals starter Jon Lester worked out of a second inning jam, getting Arozarena to fly out to right field with the bases loaded.
In the third inning, Mike Zunino took Lester deep, sending it down the left field foul line into the seats, giving the Rays a two-run lead.
The Nationals responded in the bottom half of the third with a double and four-straight singles to take a two-run lead. Soto and Bell hit back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game before Starlin Castro’s bases-loaded single drove in two more.
In the fourth, Arozarena smacked an RBI double to right, cutting Washington’s lead to one.
Turner went yard for the second-straight day on the first pitch he saw in the bottom half of the fourth inning, crushing the ball 400 feet to right field, extending the Nationals’ lead to two. Jordy Mercer joined the home run party in the fifth with a solo shot to left.
Starlin Castro rocketed a 415-foot two-run blast to right-center field to put Washington in the driver seat, up six in the sixth. Josh Harrison added a two-RBI double in the eighth to push the lead to nine.
Lester pitched five innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out three for the Nationals.
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