Nelson Cruz played his first game as a Mariner on April 6, 2015, a 4-1 win against the Angels started by Félix Hernández at what was then known as Safeco Field. He didn’t record a hit that night, but he did record one of the Mariners’ two hits the next night, a single in a 2-0 loss where the Mariners failed to give James Paxton any run support. He was hitless in the series finale, and again in a 12-0 drubbing at the hands of the A’s in the series opener, leading to some grumbling from those who had disliked the signing in the first place: more money spent on another right-handed power hitter, a hallmark of the Jack Z era.
About Last Night: Nelson Cruz, forever Mariner
