DENVER – Ever the dutiful son, Fred Lewis sent his mother, Vivian, a dozen roses Sunday and called to wish her a happy Mother’s Day.
“She told me she loves me,” Lewis said. “I said, `I love you back, and I’m going out to play my game.'”
Lewis had a game to delight his teammates, his mother and all 3,849 good folks in Wiggins, Miss. He became the 22nd player in Giants franchise history to hit for the cycle, clinching the feat with a single in the seventh inning of a 15-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Making just his fourth big league start and with all of 19 career at-bats under his belt, Lewis doubled in the first inning, hit a three-run home run in the fourth, tripled in the fifth and singled in his final two trips to complete a 5-for-6 afternoon.
The soft-spoken center fielder became the 24th rookie in major league history to hit for the cycle and the first Giants rookie to do it since Dave Kingman in 1972. Only nine Giants players have accomplished the feat since the club moved to San Francisco in 1958; Randy Winn did it last August.
“I’ve never done this in my whole career,” Lewis said. “Never had five hits, either.”
Lewis’ lean, strong frame and superb athleticism draw comparisons to a young Eric Davis or Mike Cameron, but the Giants have brought the 26-year-old along slowly. He concentrated on football in high school and junior college before transferring to Southern University, where he chose baseball and played with Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks.
Manager Bruce Bochy expects to play Lewis against most right-handed pitchers for the next four to six weeks while Dave Roberts recovers from left-elbow surgery.
“This guy has the chance to be a special player,” Bochy said of the left-handed hitter. “He’s got talent written all over him. He’ll be an everyday major leaguer at some point, no question. He’s a little behind because he played football, but he’ll only get better and better the more games he plays.”
Lewis scored in the first inning on a balk and struck out to strand two runners in the second. He got another chance with two on and two out in the fourth, hitting a 1-0 fastball deep to the opposite field.
Rockies right-hander Taylor Buchholz laughed as the ball kept carrying into the left-field bleachers. It was a classic Coors Field home run, and the first of Lewis’ career.
“I didn’t think it was gone at all,” Lewis said. “I just hit line drives to the opposite field. I was thinking `three’ out of the box.”
Lewis made it to third easily when he hit a drive to left-center against left-hander Tom Martin in the fifth. Because the throw went home and Lewis hesitated around second base, he wasn’t sure if it would be scored a triple.
He knew he had a chance for the cycle when he jogged to center field in the bottom of the inning and heard the fans telling him what he needed. Two innings later, he lined a two-strike single off hard-throwing right-hander Denny Bautista.
The Giants batted around and Lewis singled again in the inning, this time off left-hander Zach McClellan. His five hits came against four pitchers.
“He put the barrel on us all day long,” Rockies Manager Clint Hurdle said.
Lewis said he didn’t have any special feeling entering the game, though he did enjoy a good breakfast.
“Ham and cheese omelet,” he said. “Usually it’s just scrambled eggs.”
Vivian Lewis will be glad to know her son is eating right.
Contact Andrew Baggarly at abaggarly@mercurynews.com.
