HOUSTON -AP- As Evan Longoria stood at third base after a triple in the third inning following his first-inning homer, Houston's Alex Bregmansuggested that he might be on his way to hitting for the cycle after getting the two toughest hits early in the game.
Tampa Bay's third baseman shrugged him off with "there's a long way to go" and went about his business.
It turns out Bregman was right, as Longoria became the second Tampa Bay player to hit for the cycle on a night he drove in three runs to lead the Rays over the Astros 6-4 on Tuesday.
"I guess he predicted it," Longoria said with a grin.
He was a double shy when he came to the plate with two outs in the ninth and laced a laser to left field. Longoria dashed to second base and slid in to avoid the tag of Jose Altuve.
He was initially ruled out, but the call was overturned after a crew chief review. Most of the Rays stood up behind the railing of the dugout and cheered as the call was reversed, and Longoria flashed a big smile knowing that he joined Melvin (then known as B.J.) Upton as the only Rays to achieve the feat.
"When I hit it I just put my head down and was running as hard as I could," Longoria said. "I actually thought the ball went to the wall. But I felt like I was safe initially and I was just hoping that the review showed that."
Manager Kevin Cash joked that Longoria looked less like a 31-year-old who has dealt with plantar fasciitis this season and more like Tampa's speedy 24-year-old outfielder Mallex Smith, who leads the team with 16 stolen bases, as he rounded first base.
"That's a pretty special day in his career," Cash said. "That's pretty awesome to be a part of that and watch that. It was impressive how he hit first base. Looked like Mallex running around."
Logan Morrison hit a solo homer and finished with two RBIs as the Rays bounced back after losing Monday's opener 14-7.
Lucas Duda singled with one out in the first before Longoria launched his towering homer, which banged on train tracks atop left field, off Mike Fiers (7-6) to make it 2-0. Morrison's 27th homer came next to make it 3-0.
Rays starter Chris Archer (8-6) allowed six hits, four runs and struck out five in 6-plus innings to get his first win since July 4 and improve to 5-2 in eight career starts against the Astros.
"He had a pretty big cushion at the beginning, which makes it tough," Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. "We battled. We had some pretty good at-bats, hit some balls hard. Chased him at the end but he's good."
Alex Colome pitched a perfect ninth for his 31st save.
Duda doubled with one out in the third before scoring on Longoria's first triple of the season to push the lead to 4-0. Longoria then scored on a two-out single by Adeiny Hechavarria.
Archer had allowed just one hit when Carlos Beltran sent a 96 mph fastball into the seats in right field with one out in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-1. He retired Evan Gattis before Bregman's solo shot to left field got Houston within 5-2.
An RBI single by Beltran with no outs in the sixth ended Archer's night. Steve Cishek was greeted by a double from Gattis before Beltran scored on a groundout by Bregman to cut the lead to 6-4.
 

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