TUKWILA — Whenever Raúl Ruidíaz has been healthy, he’s been reasonably productive. The Peruvian striker has five goals in less than 800 MLS minutes this year, roughly on par with his scoring rate since joining the Sounders midway through 2018. The problem? He’s been sidelined three times this year with muscle injuries, limiting him to about a third of the available minutes in MLS play.
In an effort to make sure he’s available for the rest of the season, the Sounders have put Ruidíaz on a strict program designed to slowly ramp him back up. Although Ruidíaz doesn’t seem to necessarily like the limits — he appeared to be quite upset when he was pulled after 65 minutes with the Sounders still needing a goal against Real Salt Lake on Sunday — it does seem to be working.