The Mariners just crushed the Blue Jays, 14-5, in Saturday matinee action and a lot of that can be attributed to the bat of Nelson Cruz. To the moving pictures ...
Boomstick number one:
A grand slam. Decent.
Cruz would come to the plate in the eighth inning with two on and, well ...
Boomstick number two:
Two homers and seven RBI in two swings. Have a day, Nelson Cruz.
Cruz now has 25 homers and 65 RBI on the season, putting him within four of Mark Trumbo's MLB lead in homers and seventh place in the AL in RBI.
This marks the 20th multi-homer game in Cruz's career. It's his fourth game with at least seven RBI and still one off his career high. He's had two eight-RBI games. Put them together, though, and this is only the second time in Cruz's career that he's had at least two homers and seven RBI (the other coming on Sept. 7, 2014 as a member of the Orioles).
The win gets the Mariners within 3 1/2 games of the Blue Jays for the second AL wild-card spot.