Hard work and patience paying off for Ruiz

LOS ANGELES -- When a hitter isn’t getting the results he wants, it can be tempting to tinker with things mechanically. That’s been the case for Keibert Ruiz, who’s hit the ball well of late but wasn’t seeing it translate into hits as frequently as he’d like.

Manager Dave Martinez’s message?

“I know it's frustrating, but you cannot change right now.”

Those results may now be starting to come for Ruiz, who homered twice on Wednesday in the Nationals’ 10-6 win over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. It was part of a five-homer day for Washington -- with CJ Abrams, Jeimer Candelario and Luis García also going yard -- that staved off a sweep and helped the club finish the road trip at 3-3.

In the 55 games prior, the Nationals did not hit more than two home runs in one contest.

“These guys, they're playing hard,” said Martinez. “[Ruiz has] been hitting the ball hard. … For him to come out today and do what he did, I'm really happy for him.”

Entering Wednesday, eight of the last 10 balls Ruiz put in play had left the bat at 97 mph or faster, according to Statcast. But only two of those had gone for hits. It was part of a discouraging trend for Ruiz this season, as his .221 batting average on balls in play prior to Wednesday suggested some poor luck.

But fortune smiled on him on Wednesday, as he went 3-for-4 with three runs scored. It started in the top of the second, when Dodgers starter Noah Syndergaard left a 3-1 sinker over the heart of the plate that Ruiz sent over the center-field wall. Ruiz added a well-struck base hit in the sixth, then reached on a hit-by-pitch in the eighth, ultimately scoring on García’s game-deciding three-run shot.

“I feel great for [Ruiz],” García said through team interpreter Octavio Martinez. “He's a hard-working kid. He's a great teammate and a great person. And it's good to see that the hard work is paying off.”

To cap his already strong day, Ruiz provided some insurance with a two-run blast in the top of the ninth, driven a Statcast-projected 401 feet to center field. As he went into his home run trot, Ruiz pounded his chest and pointed emphatically to the dugout, a more emotional display than is customary for him -- something he acknowledged had “a little bit” to do with facing his former team. The Dodgers traded Ruiz at the 2021 Deadline as part of the package for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner.

Ruiz had plenty of other reasons to smile, too, including his success from both sides of the plate. His homers on Wednesday came batting left-handed against righties, while his sixth-inning single was hit right-handed. His long ball in the seventh inning on Tuesday was hit righty as well, the first of his Major League career.

“It feels really good,” he said. “My right-handed swing is feeling better than last year.”

At 24 years old and in his second full Major League season, he of course has room to improve in his approach. And that includes getting better at dealing with breaking pitches down, which Martinez referred to as his “kryptonite.” And while Ruiz’s first two homers of the series came on elevated fastballs, his second homer on Wednesday came on a slider low in the zone -- a seeming step in the right direction for him.

Above all, though, the most important thing for Ruiz is to trust in the swing that he’s locked into. Performances like Wednesday’s make that a lot easier to do.

“It's a long season,” said Ruiz. “Right now I’m just working hard, controlling what I can control and keeping my head up.”