Mariners Notebook: Nelson Cruz closing in on a career milestone

SEATTLE – Mariners designated hitter Nelson Cruz broke a homerless drought Wednesday and now stands on the threshold of a career milestone.

Cruz’s home run in the third inning of Wednesday’s 9-6 loss to Kansas City was the 299th of his career. It was also his first homer since June 4 – the third-longest drought of his career.

Two innings later, Cruz barely missed No. 300 when he sent a drive to center field that hit off the top of the wall.

“I hit it top spin,” he said, “so I knew it could go either way.”

No. 300, whenever it comes, will make him the 10th active player to reach that milestone. He was also become the seventh player to hit No. 300 while playing for the Mariners.

The other six: Willie Horton (1979), Ken Griffey Jr. (1998), Jay Buhner (2000), Edgar Martinez (2004), Richie Sexson (2008) and Raul Ibanez (2013).

Griffey (417), Martinez (309) and Buhner (307) are the only players to hit 300 or more homers as Mariners.

Cruz has hit 102 of his 299 homers as a Mariner.

Second baseman Robinson Cano need five homers to join the 300 club. He has hit 91 of his 295 homers as a Mariner.

The nine active players in the 300 club: Albert Pujols (603), Miguel Cabrera (457), Adrian Beltre (450), Carlos Beltran (431), Edwin Encarnacion (327), Jose Bautista (322), Matt Holliday (307), Adrian Gonzalez (309) and Curtis Granderson (306).

Another Milestone

Outfielder Jarrod Dyson reached 20 stolen bases for a sixth consecutive season Wednesday – and did it in style by beating a throw from former Kansas City teammate Salvador Perez.

The Dyson/Perez matchups were, for years, a highlight each spring when the Royals staged intrasquad games before opening their Cactus League schedule.

Dyson joins Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus as the only players to steal at least 20 bases in each of the last six seasons, although Houston second baseman Jose Altuve needs just four more to gain that distinction.

Gamel (officially) leads the American League in batting

Mariners left fielder Ben Gamel now has exactly enough plate appearances to qualify among the American League leaders and heads into Thursday’s series opener against Oakland with a league-leading .335 average.

It’s a narrow lead. Houston second baseman Jose Altuve, the reigning batting champion, is at .334. New York rookie sensation Aaron Judge is third at .331.

Gamel is seeking to become the first rookie to lead the American League in batting at the All-Star break since Los Angeles outfielder Mike Trout had a .341 average in 2012.

Trout finished that season at .326, which was second to the .330 by Detroit first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who achieved a Triple Crown by also leading the league with 44 homers and 139 RBIs.

The formula for qualification is 3.1 plate appearances times the numbers of games played by the player’s team. The Mariners (41-45) have played 86, so the qualification standard for their players entering Thursday is 266.6.

Gamel has 267 after going 2 for 4 in Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to Kansas City in 10 innings.

A player can win the batting title without achieving the minimum 502 plate appearances (162 games times 3.1) if adding a zero-for-the-shortcoming still leaves the player with a highest average.

(Example: If a player is eight plate appearances shy of the qualifying number, but adding an 0-for-8 to his totals still leaves him with the highest average, then he wins the batting title.)

That’s why some recent listings had Gamel as the league leader even though he lacked the necessary number of plate appearances for qualification. Gamel no longer needs such an asterisk.

But shortstop Jean Segura does.

Segura went 2 for 5 on Wednesday and raised his average to .343, but he is 10 plate appearances short of qualification. An 0 for 10 drops his average to .329, which would be fourth in the American League.

It’s unlikely that Segura will get the 22 plate appearances necessary over the next four games to reach the qualifying standard by the All-Star break, but he could get close enough to be the league leader when the necessary 0-fer is added to his totals.