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Orioles' Rio Ruiz riding new routine to be team's hottest hitter in May

Rio Ruiz, the Orioles' hottest hitter in May, has found that all those hitting coaches who preach consistency and routine just might be onto something.

With a home run in the Orioles loss to the Cleveland Indians on Thursday, Ruiz had hits in nine of his 11 games this month, giving him a .324 batting average with a .906 OPS in May and raising his season average to .256 — the highest it's been since the first weekend of the year.

He's found building a pregame routine that works for him with hitting coach Don Long and assistant hitting coach Howie Clark has been the key.