ARLINGTON, Texas — Seattle Mariners outfielder Justin Ruggiano drew a second consecutive start Tuesday for the first time this season after getting two key walks as the leadoff hitter in Monday’s 3-1 victory over Texas.
Ruggiano opened the game with a walk and came around to score in a two-run first inning and, after Texas scored in the fifth, drew a two-out walk in the fifth. He stole second and scored on Seth Smith’s single.
That keen eye was the result of some adjustments.
“Honestly, I haven’t been seeing the ball as well as I’d like to,” he said. “I’ve been doing some things to adjust to right-handers and I think I was actually able to get two eyes on the ball and slow the ball down a little bit.
“I had a pretty good look at the ball (on Monday). I felt really comfortable, actually, for not playing in a while.”
Ruggiano had two hits on Tuesday.
Stat-crunching
Concerned by the Mariners’ 8-11 record going into Tuesday’s game against the Rangers? The stat mavens at Fangraphs.com have some encouraging projections.
Their computations still show the Mariners as having the best chance to win the American League West Division at 36.9 percent. The Los Angeles Angels rate second at 30.0 percent.
Then it drops to the Houston, which entered the day with a three-game lead, at 17.9 percent, Oakland at 14.6 percent, and Texas at 0.5.
Fangraphs.com also rated the Mariners as having a 52.0-percent chance of reaching postseason either as a division winner or wild-card qualifier. That ranked third among AL teams behind Detroit (75.2) and Boston (68.1).
Cruz trivia
How about this gem from the Elias Sports Bureau: Nelson Cruz is just the third player since 1920 to open the season with at least 20 hits and 20 RBI in fewer than 20 games in successive seasons for different clubs.
The achievement dates to 1920 because that’s when RBI became an official stat.
Anyway … Cruz entered Tuesday with 23 hits and 21 RBI in 19 games. A year ago, he had 22 hits and 21 RBI in 19 games for Baltimore.
The others on the list were also AL outfielders: Joe Rudi with the Athletics in 1976 and the Angels in 1977; Manny Ramirez with the Indians in 2000 and the Red Sox in 2001.
Minor details
Triple-A Tacoma shortstop Chris Taylor appears fully recovered from a broken right wrist and is again pushing hard for a spot on the big-league roster.
Taylor went 3-for-5 on Monday in the Rainiers’ 6-5 loss at Sacramento and now has a .328/.380/.500 slash through 16 games.
That puts some pressure on Brad Miller to minimize games like Monday, when he had a run-scoring throwing error and committed a base-running blunder in the 3-1 victory over Texas.
Overall, though, Miller has been solid since winning the shortstop job by default in spring training when Taylor suffered an injury March 13 when hit by a foul ball on his wrist.
Miller entered Tuesday’s game with a .293/.323/.431 slash while playing in all 19 games. His error Monday was just his second of the season, but he had a minus-2 total zone rating in runs saved above/below average.
Short hops
Felix Hernandez enters his start Wednesday needing just six strikeouts to pass Johan Santana as MLB’s all-time leader among Venezuelan-born pitchers. Hernandez has 1,983; Santana is currently on the Toronto’s disabled list. … The Mariners have issued 12 intentional walks, which leads the majors. … Cruz not only entered Tuesday leading the majors with 21 RBI, he also led the majors with eight go-ahead RBI and five game-winning RBI.
On tap
The Mariners and Rangers conclude their three-game series at 5:05 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
Right-hander Felix Hernandez (3-0, 1.61.) will face Texas lefty Wandy Rodriguez (1-0, 1.80). Hernandez is coming off a shutout victory over Minnesota.
The game can be seen on Root Sports and heard on 710 ESPN.
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