Mariners Noon Number: 800

Nelson Cruz recorded his 800th career RBI with a solo home run in the fourth inning of the Seattle Mariners’ 2-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday.

It was Cruz’ first homer of the season and his third career home run against Rangers starter Martin Perez. Cruz overall is 6 for 12 (.500) with one double, three home runs, four RBI and two walks in his career against Perez.

Cruz, like many of the Mariners hitters, is off to a slow start. After the homer and a 1 for 3 night, the veteran slugger is hitting .195 with a .570 OPS. That, obviously, isn’t enough from your cleanup hitter, but he is starting to show some signs of life.

Still, he’ll be 37 in July and DH-type sluggers tend to age fast when they start to break down, David Ortiz notwithstanding. The Mariners offense is all built around Cruz, Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager, and the M’s banked on the trio producing as they did last season.