Mature approach: Cruz's 2-HR, 5-RBI day

If at first you don’t succeed ... hit a grand slam, a solo homer and a double.

Nelson Cruz had a would-be grand slam hook just foul Monday afternoon at Comerica Park -- so close that the umpires reviewed the video to ensure the ball did not strike the foul pole. But rather than rue the grannie that got away, Cruz hit a no-doubter on the very next pitch to spark an offensive explosion for himself and the Twins in a 15-6 trouncing of the Tigers.

• Box score

“A lot of guys hit foul homers and then get emotional,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You don’t normally see guys do that back-to-back. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Cruz did it all Monday. The Twins had a lot of production from a lot of sources, but none bigger than the 40-year-old designated hitter. He went 3-for-6 with five RBIs and three runs in his first start of the season after being relegated to pinch-hitting duties in the season-opening series under National League rules in Milwaukee.

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“I was a little anxious to start a game, I guess,” Cruz said. “It was nice to be back.”

With the bases loaded in the top of the second inning against Tigers starter José Ureña, Cruz lifted a 1-0 pitch to the right-field corner, and the ball sailed to the right of the foul pole. After the video review confirmed the near-miss, Cruz swung at Ureña’s next offering -- an 84.1 mph slider low in the zone -- and punched it out to left-center field.

There was no need to review that one. The 377-foot line drive had clearly crossed over the wall for Cruz’s first homer of 2021. The grand slam gave the Twins a 6-0 lead -- plenty of support for Matt Shoemaker in his strong debut for Minnesota.

Later, when leading off the top of the fifth, Cruz struck again. This time, facing Detroit reliever Buck Farmer, Cruz smashed a 92.4 mph fastball high and deep to left for a 418-foot solo shot that made it 7-0 and started a five-run inning.

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The two Cruz homers were hit 114.6 mph and 116.6 mph. Cruz, Giancarlo Stanton (Oct. 6, 2020) and Matt Davidson (March 29, 2018) are the only players with two 114+ mph homers in a game since Statcast began tracking in 2015. Cruz's fifth-inning long ball was the hardest hit by a Minnesota player in the Statcast era, breaking Kennys Vargas' record 116 mph homer from June 10, 2017.

“Old man crushing,” teammate Miguel Sanó joked while interrupting Cruz’s postgame media Zoom.

“I got the record,” Cruz shot back with a smile. “Start working out, and maybe you can get to my speed.”

As if the above weren’t enough, Cruz doubled and later scored in the sixth inning. And he darn near went deep again when the Tigers used utility man Harold Castro to pitch mop-up duty in the ninth, but the fly ball was caught at the warning track.

Per Baseball Reference, Monday marked just the 18th time in history that a player age 40 or older had 10 or more total bases in a game.

The last to do it? Cruz, of course, on July 26 of last year.

The quirk of the Twins’ schedule (and the removal of the universal DH rule) didn’t do Cruz any favors. He hasn’t started a game in the field since 2018, when he played four games in right field for the Mariners.

“I hear this from him constantly; that he’s ready to go [play in the field],” Baldelli said. “He does say it with a smile. There could be some seriousness and also some sarcasm there. I think Nelson could handle it and there would be situations we could look into doing that … but I’ll be very honest. All of these games matter, but I don’t want to put these guys at risk in ways that aren’t necessary. I do think that making sure he gets his at-bat a day [as a pinch-hitter in Milwaukee] and was ready to go when we got here to Detroit was more important, and that’s what we did.”

So Cruz had to wait patiently for his first start. Then he had to wait through the replay review. But this turned out to be a performance very much worth the wait.