By Bob Dutton
The News Tribune
SEATTLE — The milestone was a no-doubter Friday from the time it left Nelson Cruz’s bat. It was a 433-foot bomb to left-center field for the 300th homer of his career. It helped turn a one-run lead into a 7-2 victory over Oakland.
The cheering crowd rose to its feet as Cruz chugged around the bases, still slowed by a sore right knee. The surprise, at least to Cruz, is what came next.
The crowd kept cheering and didn’t stop until Cruz emerged from the dugout for an extra salute. A curtain call.
“That’s the first time that’s ever happened to me,” he said. “It was definitely special.”
Baseball has always been stat-obsessed, and round numbers typically prompt reflective moments. That was true Friday for Cruz and manager Scott Servais who, as a farm director in Texas, played a role years ago in revitalizing Cruz’s career.
“There are a lot of people in this game,” Servais said, “who would have bet that Nelson Cruz would never hit 300 home runs. He proved a lot of people wrong. We’ve been the beneficiary here in Seattle of seeing a bunch of them recently.”
Now in his 13th season, Cruz is well-established as one of the game’s premier power hitters. He hit at least 40 homers in each of the three previous seasons and has 103 in his two-plus years with the Mariners.
“It’s special,” he said. “I’ve come a long way. Not only what I did in baseball and in (working through) the minors. But in coming from the Dominican. Never in my dreams did I think about hitting 300 homers in the big leagues.”
Cruz is the 10th active player with 300 homers. And it’s a good list: Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Beltre, Carlos Beltran, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Matt Holliday, Adrian Gonzalez and Curtis Granderson.
The club should gain another member before the season ends — Robinson Cano has 295.
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