Heading into Monday night's game in Baltimore, Nelson Cruz was mired in a 5-for-34 slump and had gone more than two weeks without flashing the Boomstick and sending one into the outfield stands.
That streak is still going, but for the past two nights Cruz has gotten on base and driven the ball to the gaps, and most importantly, has started using the entire field, as Ron Washington insisted when there were rumors he would be benched for Monday's game to try to get him out of said slump.
Instead on Monday, Cruz was in the lineup and had the type of game that slumps go to die, a three-hit game with two infield singles. Sometimes that's what it takes to get a guy out of a slump. The infield singles clearly weren't blasts but he worked to get on base and also had a double that night, scoring three times. That's enough to get the confidence going, and it carried over to Tuesday night.
In the Rangers' 10-3 win on Tuesday, Cruz went 3-for-5 with another double and drove in a run. Cruz got his average up to .250 after entering the night with a .235 average, yet he still has just two home runs and 12 RBIs. You'd have to think Cruz is starting to get going. After all, May is his second-best career month when it comes to average, with July being his career-best month.
Tonight, Cruz will square off against Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen, who he has not met previously. We'll see if the hot streak continues.
