Ruiz tattoos two homers for Red Wings
Keibert Ruiz tallied multiple home runs in a game four times this season while he was still in the Dodgers organization. On Tuesday night, he gave Nationals fans a glimpse of that same power.
Baseball’s No. 19 overall prospect cranked a pair of solo home runs and added a single for his sixth multi-hit game over the last 11 days as Triple-A Rochester routed Syracuse, 10-2.
Ruiz got the Red Wings’ big offensive night started in the top of the first inning when he connected on the sixth pitch he saw from Syracuse starter Alex Sanabia and deposited it beyond the right-field wall. Rochester’s Daniel Palka followed with a blast of his own to right-center to stake the visitors to a 2-0 lead.
After being retired on a fly to center in the third and a pop to second base in the fourth, Ruiz again came through in the seventh. With the Red Wings already in front 4-0, Ruiz again hit the first of back-to-back homers with Palka, the former leaving the yard to right field and the latter to left.
The 23-year-old added a third hit and third RBI for the night when he lined a single to left in the eighth to plate Blake Swihart.
Traded to the Nationals as part of a prospect haul in return for shipping big league All-Stars Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers last month, Ruiz started slowly with his new organization. After going 1-for-4 in his first two games with Rochester, the backstop went just 1-for-18 over his next five games before heating up again.
Ruiz now has hits in eight of his last 11 games and has lifted his season slash line to .310/.376/.612 between Rochester and Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he played 52 games prior to the trade.