Mariners Log: M’s top A’s, Nelson Cruz slugs 300th homer of career

THREE-RUN SHOT FOR CRUZ PROVIDES INSURANCE IN EIGHTH

What happened: Nelson Cruz clubbed a three-run home run in the eighth inning to break it open and the Seattle Mariners snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-2 win over the Oakland Athletics at Safeco Field in Seattle.

Cruz went 3 for 5 with five RBIs on the night. Danny Valencia added three hits and scored twice.

Cruz came to bat in the eighth with Valencia – who had doubled – and Robinson Cano aboard via base on balls. Liam Hendricks offered him a slider that hung in the middle of the plate, and Cruz deposited it into the stands in left-center.

Mitch Haniger doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Seager.

Mariners starter James Paxton allowed two runs on two hits and three walks over seven innings with nine strikeouts.

Line Outs

• The M’s picked up a run in the first on consecutive one-out singles by Danny Valencia, Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz. But Mitch Haniger grounded into a rally-killing 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
• Bad defense by the M’s allowed Oakland to take the lead in the third. With one down, Matt Joyce singled. Ryan Lavarnway lined out to the track in right, but Haniger’s throw back missed the cutoff man, and Valencia didn’t see the throw and it went through the field and to the backstop, allowing Joyce to move up anyway. Rajai Davis walked, then Marcus Semien lined one down the left field line.
• Joyce scored easily, but Ben Gamel played it to go in the corner, when in reality it went into foul territory and bounced off the half-wall and back into play, allowing Davis to race around to score the second run.
• In the bottom half, Jean Segura led off with a single, went to second on Valencia’s single, moved to third on Cano’s fielder’s choice that rubbed out Valencia at second, and scored on Cruz’ line-drive single to left. Haniger looped a single over the shortstop to load the bases. Kyle Seager’s line out to medium center was enough to score Cano, esepcially after Davis failed to throw back to the infield immediately after catching it.

The Takeaway

It’s a great milestone for Cruz obviously, and good for the team to score a few runs at home and get back into the win column.

Tweet of the Day

Players of the Game

Hero: Nelson Cruz. 3 for 4, homer, five RBIs.

Goat: Mike Zunino. 0 for 3. He’s now 3 for 33 over his last 11 games. That earthquake on Wednesday was him falling back to earth.

Mariners Notes

• Nelson Cruz hit his 300th career home, a three-run shot in the eighth inning.
• He’s the 10th active player with 300-plus home runs.
• He’s the seventh player to record their 300th career home run with Seattle.
• Cruz recorded a season-high tying five RBI (also: April 23 at Oakland).
• He now leads MLB with 68 RBI this season, ahead of Jake Lamb (67), Marcell Ozuna (67) and Paul Goldschmidt (67).

Next Game

Oakland Athletics (38-49) vs. Seattle Mariners (42-46) on Saturday at 7:10 p.m. at Safeco Field. Andrew Moore (1-1. 3.60) hosts Chris Smith (0-0, 0.00).

What others are saying (and writing)

Cruz is a big guy with a lot of pop. The ball jumps off his bat, especially when he’s healthy – unlike now. So when he hit his 300th home run last night in the 7-2 win over last-place Oakland, it seemed a long-time coming. And make you appreciate guys like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and others who hit more than double Cruz’s total. … Ironically, after how this season has gone, Cano was named as an injury replacement on the All-Star team. … The M’s made some roster adjustments to their pitching staff, which should come as a shock to no one who has followed this team for the past year and a half. … They also might get an injured reliever back right after the break.