Shin-Soo Choo hits for the cycle in Rangers’ rout of Rockies

Shin-Soo Choo was the star of the Texas Rangers’ 9-0 rout of the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Tuesday night.

He opened the scoring with an RBI double in the second, smacked a solo home run in the fourth, then drove in another run with a single in the fifth, putting Choo a triple short of the cycle with four innings to play. In most cases though, being “a triple short of the cycle” is as close as a player will get.

Choo’s next plate appearance came in the seventh and he grounded out on a sharp ground ball to short, giving him maybe one more shot to complete the cycle. He would get another opportunity in the top of the ninth and he made the most of it.

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Facing Rockies left-hander Rex Brothers and still needing that triple, Choo crushed a fastball deep to center field that hit off the bottom of the fence and bounced away from center fielder Charlie Blackmon.

Running hard out of the box, Choo slid headfirst into third to record the eighth cycle in Rangers’ franchise history and become the first Korean-born player to accomplish the feat. Boston Red Sox All-Star Brock Holt hit for the cycle in June, the only other time it’s happened in the majors this season.

Choo finished the game going 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs and three runs scored. His teammate Delino DeShields Jr. had four hits as well and was a home run shy of joining Choo in the cycle club.

It was just a couple years ago that Choo was being talked about as one of the best outfielders in baseball. He hasn’t been quite at that level since signing with Texas last season – Tuesday’s big-time performance only brought Choo’s average up to .235 – but he broke out and reminded us the skills are still there.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr