MLB: Old the hills! Two Nelson Cruz home runs and more Rays history

When the Tampa Bay Rays acquired Nelson Cruz a week before the trade deadline, they saw him as the perfect upgrade to their lineup, a threat of power that would do a lot of damage, and a presence that would appeal to everyone around him. They imagined many nights like Tuesday night.

Cruz hit two home runs and drove in five runs in the 39th game of his career with multiple homers, while catcher Mike Zunino homered in his fifth straight game:

Cruz had been on a 0-for-12 streak when he faced the left-hander of the Los Orioles, John Means, in the fifth inning. But his mini-crash ended with two big changes on Tuesday night.

Cruz crushed a left change for his first home run at Tropicana Field since joining the Rays, a three-run shot that gave them a 6-0 lead. In the sixth, he threw a 437-foot blast projected by Statcast to knock out reliever Tanner Scott, a two-run shot to the moon that pushed him past Dave Kingman (442) and into 42nd place on the league leaderboard. home runs of all time.

It may interest you: MLB Nelson Cruz enters a select group where there are two members of the Hall of Fame

Cruz said he’s been doing extra work lately to make his swing feel good, but the Rays were hardly worried about Cruz. Yet even when he hasn’t been hitting the balls like he did Tuesday, Cash said his impact on the Rays’ lineup has been obvious.

Rafael Martinez

I am fond of the King of Sports, especially the Boston Red Sox in MLB and in general all of Mexican baseball. This profession has given me the opportunity to cover major events such as the Caribbean Series, LMB All Star, LMP (uninterrupted since 2009), signings of important players. I had the chance to attend the 2013 World Classic in Arizona, USA, albeit as a fan. Apart from this beautiful sport, I love basketball, where I have also narrated games and even an NBA friendly 10 years ago, but I carry baseball in my veins. Bachelor of Communication Sciences from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS) , from which I graduated in 2011. I was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa and started in the world of sports journalism in 2004 in the newspaper El Sol de Mazatlán, where I was a baseball columnist and reporter at the same time. In January 2009 I came to El Debate as a journalist reporter and it was almost six years (in the first stage), until in November 2014 I emigrated to the radio providing my services in Línea Directa-Grupo RSN. My cycle there ended in July 2019 and within days, El Debate gave me another opportunity to work and opened the doors for me again. That is how I came to Al Bat, where I have been since 2019 as a web journalist.

see more