Nats' Ruiz notches another multihomer day
Keibert Ruiz is getting quite comfortable with his new team.
Less than a full day after his first multihomer game in the Nationals organization, Ruiz put up his second. Baseball’s No. 19 overall prospect swatted a pair of blasts and drove in four runs in the opener of a Wednesday doubleheader, leading Triple-A Rochester to a 7-1 win at Syracuse.
After belting two solo shots on Tuesday night, Ruiz struck early again a day later. Washington’s top prospect flew out to right field in the first inning but hammered another solo homer to right-center in the fourth to get his team on the board.
Following a popout to right in the fifth, Ruiz helped his team break the game open in the seventh. Following Blake Swihart’s leadoff walk and a subsequent single by Andrew Stevenson, Ruiz cracked a three-run shot to right-center to give Rochester a 7-0 advantage.
Acquired by the Nationals from the Dodgers at the Trade Deadline last month, Ruiz started slowly with his new organization, going 3-for-26 in his first seven games. Since then, he’s looked every bit like his club’s new top prospect talent. Dating back to Aug. 11, Ruiz has batted .396/.431/.771 with four home runs -- all over the last two days -- six doubles, 13 RBIs and 19 total hits in 48 at-bats.
In 69 total games (52 with Triple-A Oklahoma City and 17 with Rochester), Ruiz is batting .313/.377/.632 with 21 homers and 59 RBIs. Thursday’s showing was his sixth multihomer game of the season.