This Day In Astros History: July 28, 2006

Missed another one, but since today wasn't a milestone day, I figured we'd go back and pick up yesterday's. On the day before today, 5 years ago, Luke Scott hit for the cycle as the Astros lost 8-7 to the Diamondbacks in 11 innings.

Scott started in right field in this one (for those of you who believe J.D. Martinez would be rough out there...) and this was one of just 65 games he appeared in that season. It was the second season Scott had been in the majors and turned out to be his best, as he hit .336/.426/.621 in 249 plate appearances. Two years after this, he was a key piece in the Miguel Tejada trade.

Back to this game, this was not your father's Astros lineup. And by that, I mean it was not even close to the 2005 World Series lineup. Hitting 3-4-5-6 for Houston were Mike Lamb, Aubrey Huff, Preston Wilson and Scott. 

Scott got off on the wrong foot, grounding out to second base in his first at-bat. He made up for it in the bottom of the fourth with a three-run home run, scoring Lamb and Huff while tying the score at 3-3.

An inning later, Scott picked up the hardest of the cycle components, tripling to deep center field while driving in Huff again to make the score 4-4. If your counting, Scott has driven in all four of the Astros runs at this point in the game.

He picked up his third hit in the bottom of the seventh, hitting a double to right to score Huff a third time. This time, it just brought the Astros within two runs at 7-5. Ausmus got them within a run one batter later with a groundout to second that allowed Preston Wilson to score from third.

Scott had a chance to pick up the cycle in regulation, leading off the top of the ninth, but he grounded out to second again. He got the cycle in the bottom of the 11th with the Astros down 8-7 and two outs in the inning. That's when he laced a single to right field for his first career cycle.

Here's the graphic replay of the game, thanks to Back to Baseball.