The 2012 New York Mets started out well, but the season ended basically as expected for a rebuilding team. The Mets finished 74-88 in 2012. There were some individual highlights, such as the pitching of R.A. Dickey, who won the National League’s Cy Young award that year with a 20-6 record. On April 27, 2012, Scott Hairston achieved a rare feat, hitting for the cycle.
The Mets were in Colorado, opening a three-game series on a Friday night. They put this lineup on the field:
Ruben Tejada SS
David Wright 3B
Lucas Duda RF
Zach Lutz 1B
The Mets scored one run in the top of the first inning, ironically with Hairston at bat when Wright was caught in a rundown play after being picked off of first base, which allowed Nieuwenhuis to score from third base. Hairston resumed his at-bat in the top of the second inning, and singled off of Rockies’ pitcher Drew Pomeranz.
In the top of the fourth inning, Hairston got the four-bagger, slugging a home run to left field. There were two more hits to get, a double and triple. The Native of Fort Worth, Texas tripled in the top of the fifth inning off Esmil Rogers, achieving what many consider to be the hardest component of the cycle. Now, Hairston needed a double. In his next at-bat in the top of the sixth inning, he rounded out his cycle by doubling off Josh Roenicke.
With that double, Hairston became the tenth (and to this point, last) Met to hit for the cycle, and the first since Eric Valent in 2004. Other Mets to have a hit of all four types in a single game include Jim Hickman (1963), Tommie Agee (1970), Mike Phillips (1976), Keith Hernandez (1985), Kevin McReynolds (1989), Alex Ochoa (1996), John Olerud (1997), Valent (2004), and Jose Reyes (2006).
Looking back at the game in Colorado ten years ago, the Mets lost by the score of 18-9. The Rockies had an 11-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth inning, highlighted by home runs by Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler. Manny Acosta absorbed most of the damage on the mound for the Mets, in relief of Schwinden.
Hairston played 11 seasons in the major leagues (two with the Mets), posting a career slash line of .242/.296/.442. He hit 106 home runs and drove in 313 runs, accumulating a 6.5 bWAR. He had one very special night as a Met, becoming one of 334 hitters in baseball history to hit for the cycle. How rare is that? By comparison, there have been 314 no-hitters in baseball history.
