A night after the Twins were shut out and held to four singles, the bats came alive to avoid a sweep against the Mariners on Wednesday night and they were led by a slugger who is no stranger to going deep at T-Mobile Park.
Twins slugger Nelson Cruz, who donned a Mariners jersey for four seasons, belted a three-run, 421-foot homer in the fifth inning for his 431st career home run, tying with Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. for 49th place on MLB’s all-time home run leaderboard. It was also Cruz’s 84th career homer.
His milestone homer led the charge on a night when Minnesota combined for 11 hits in a 7-2 win at T-Mobile Park.
“It’s fun to talk about the home runs, and he hits the ball very hard and all that, but he’s hardly a guy who goes up there with an all-or-nothing approach,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Cruz. “He’s a guy who goes up there with a great plan and then he goes out there and executes the plan.”
Before the start of the series, Cruz said his return to Seattle was one that was even more special considering that he was sidelined with a wrist injury when the Twins came to Seattle in 2019, and that the Twins did not play against the Mariners in the shortened 2020 season.
“Last time I was here, I was injured, so it's the first time I’ll get to play in front of the Mariners fans in this stadium, so it's going to be fun and I’m going to try to enjoy it,” Cruz said on Monday.
As a Mariner, Cruz launched 163 home runs and had 414 RBIs, but he said before the start of the three-game series that his connection with the Mariners and the city of Seattle is one that goes beyond the baseball diamond.
Cruz began his Boomstick23 Foundation in 2016 while with the Mariners and added that the club, and Mariners chairman and managing general partner John Stanton, have been big supporters of his humanitarian efforts.
“The Mariners were a huge part of my foundation," Cruz said on Monday. “They support me all the way. We did a lot of good stuff through the Mariners and my foundation here in Seattle, in New York and also the Dominican with all different causes. So, a lot of good memories.”
He finished the three-game set going 5-for-12 and the long ball from the 17-year veteran, nicknamed “Boomstick,” was the driving force behind a four-run inning that also saw a solo home run from rookie catcher Ryan Jeffers.
It continued a hot month of baseball for Cruz, which has come at a time when the Twins have been hurt by a number of injuries. With Byron Buxton (right hip strain) shelved, Cruz has batted .390 in 41 at-bats in June to go along with four homers, nine RBIs and eight walks.
Minnesota took another hit after Andrelton Simmons (left ankle soreness) and Josh Donaldson (right calf tightness), who singled in a run in the first inning, exited with injuries Wednesday.
Baldelli said Cruz has been an important piece to the short-staffed ballclub.
“We’re seeing right now what we’ve seen from Nellie since his first day here in Minnesota,” Baldelli said. “We’ve seen one of the best hitters in baseball. He’s a guy that’s a hitter first. He makes great, great adjustments at the plate.”