ARLINGTON -- Nelson Cruz has hit more home runs than anyone in baseball over the past five seasons and the Mariners slugger is at it again this year, launching his 30th homer in the second inning of Tuesday night's 11-4 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Park.
Cruz has reached 30 home runs for five straight seasons; the last four of those have been with the Mariners. He joins Ken Griffey Jr. as the only Mariner to hit 30 homers in four consecutive years. Griffey hit 30-plus in six seasons in Seattle, including the last four in a row from 1996-99.

Alex Rodriguez is the only other Mariners player with four 30-homer seasons, but his were not consecutive.
Cruz has been on fire of late, with eight home runs and 15 RBIs in his past 12 contests after going the previous 15 games without an extra-base hit.
Kyle Seager followed Cruz with a solo shot of his own off Rangers starter Bartolo Colon for a 2-0 lead. It was the third time this year the Mariners have hit back-to-back homers, but the second time in the past three days, as Cruz and Seager did the same thing in Sunday's 6-3 win over Toronto.

"Nelson has been unbelievable," Seager said. "He's been carrying us for a little while here. Collectively we're swinging the bat better as a group. There's a lot of hard-hit balls. That's all you can do as a group, just try to keep knocking runs across."
Cruz's home run was projected at 413 feet by Statcast™, with an exit velocity of 111.9 mph. Cruz has 10 homers of 110-plus mph this year, third behind Joey Gallo of the Rangers and Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees.
"He's seeing the ball really good," manager Scott Servais said. "The guy behind him is seeing the ball really good, too. I thought Seager's at-bats were much better tonight. A lot of guys contributing right now. That's what it's going to take. There's a lot of big games left on this road trip. We've got a big one tomorrow and hopefully we can get out here and win this series."

Seager followed with a 424-foot blast to right; his exit velocity of 109.2 mph was his highest on any home run since Statcast™ began tracking in 2015. Seager has three home runs in the past three games to give him 19 on the season.
Seager was kicking himself for a pair of costly errors in the field, but took some solace in the improved at-bats.
"My swing feels great. My swing feels as good as it's felt all year," Seager said. "In the batter's box, I feel really good."