WASHINGTON – Keibert Ruiz continues to heat up in the month of May. His career-best five-RBI game helped lift the Nationals to .500 and they are now tied with the Phillies for second place in the National League East.
Ruiz homered, doubled, scored a run and stole his first base of the season in the Nationals’ 13-3 win over the Orioles on Saturday. He tied CJ Abrams for most RBIs by a Nationals player in a single game this season.
“[I’m most proud of] the win,” said Ruiz. “We’re playing really good baseball. We’re not giving up in any situations, and we’ve got to keep doing that.”
Ruiz has gone yard in three of his last five games played, and has hit safely in four of his last five. During that stretch, he is batting .400 with six runs scored, 11 RBIs and only three strikeouts.
Saturday put an exclamation mark on his turnaround after starting the season 10-for-56 in March/April.
“I thought he did a really good job of honing in on a good pitch to hit,” manager Blake Butera said. “That's the one thing with Keibert is, he can cover a lot of pitches but he can also hit the ball really hard. And it's really hard to hit pitches hard when you're swinging at everything and just making contact.
“So one thing we put on him was, shrink the zone a little bit, trust your hand-eye coordination, even if that means taking some borderline pitches that are strikes. Wait until you get a good pitch to hit. Then he’s doing the work from there.”
Ruiz came through in key moments for the Nationals.
He belted a three-run homer in the second inning off of O's right-hander Chris Bassitt. The early offense proved valuable for the Nats, who had to fend off a three-run, seventh-inning rally from Baltimore.
“I loved it, especially that first home run,” said Brady House, who contributed a double and two-run homer off the bench. “I don't even know if I watched the ball land because I watched him yell and jump going around first base, so it fired me up being on that side of it. And then he didn't stop there, he kept doing more. So that was awesome to see, and happy for him for sure.”
When the O’s cut the Nats’ lead to only one run, Ruiz stepped to the plate with the bases loaded against Keegan Akin, delivering a line-drive single into left field that drove in Abrams and Daylen Lile. His at-bat exemplified the Nats’ resilience in a seven-run bottom of the frame.
“He’s getting his swing off, I think, a lot more this year,” said Jacob Young, who hit his fourth homer of the season on Saturday. “One, he's more patient; he’s swinging at better pitches this year. And two, when he does swing, he's really swinging hard and he's getting his swing off. He’s not missing them when he’s getting his chances, and that's really what it comes down to. We really love when he's doing that because it helps our offense a lot.”
In his next at-bat, Ruiz stole second base.
“How about that?” Butera said. “That was probably the most excited he’s been all year, just to get that stolen base.”
There was a consensus of appreciation for Ruiz’s efforts in the clubhouse on Saturday. In addition to his standout offensive performance, he caught a game with 12 strikeouts and only two walks.
“I’m so happy for him swinging it,” said starter Cade Cavalli. “He also called an unbelievable game while he was doing it. It’s just a great day for him. And he works so hard. The way he does his homework and the way he prepares for his at-bats, it’s pro. To see him get those results is awesome.”