Hobbled Nelson Cruz smoked foul ball off his foot, but still played in Mariners’ loss on Sunday

Nelson Cruz shot a foul ball off of his left ankle in the Seattle Mariners’ win over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night, and played despite it in Sunday’s series finale.

He even gave the Mariners a quick one-run lead with his first-inning, two-out RBI single up the middle to score Mitch Haniger from second base, though he was clearly hobbled.

“Nelly smoked a ball off his foot and he was really sore today,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters after Sunday’s 8-2 loss to the A’s. “Nelly will grind through it, though. He’s probably one of the toughest guys we got. You hate to pull him out of the lineup and he certainly wanted to be out there today.”

But Cruz wasn’t at 100 percent, not that the 38-year-old six-time All-Star from the Dominican Republic hasn’t played through various injuries throughout the season.

After reaching first base, Cruz then hobbled into third on Denard Span’s ensuing double to right field. A healthy Cruz maybe scores on that play.

Cruz spent 10 days on the disabled list near the beginning of the season because he turned his ankle slipping on a dugout step and that landed him in a walking boot.

Cruz finished 1-for-4 in this one and is batting .263 this season with a .881 OPS (on-base plus slugging), which is almost 20 points higher than his career average and he’s hit 33 home runs.

Mariners rotation

The Mariners set their rotation for their three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles (let’s face it, the Mariners must sweep the team with the worst record in the major leagues).

It must go opposite of their two-game series against the team with the fewest wins in the National League, the San Diego Padres, last week.

They’ll run right-hander Erasmo Ramirez, left-hander Wade LeBlanc and then right-hander Mike Leake.

That means no Marco Gonzales.

Servais said the lefty will remain out until at least the weekend, even though Gonzales was eligible to return from the 10-day disabled list on Sunday.

He’s still working back from the strain of a cervical muscle in his neck, though Gonzales threw Saturday and had a bullpen session scheduled for Monday when the Mariners return to Safeco Field.

“It’s going in the right direction,” Servais said. “He won’t be in the Baltimore series but I’ve much more encouraged based on what the trainers have told me in the past couple days.”

Lineup shuffle

Remember the Mariners plans out of spring training? Before Robinson Cano’s suspension and before injuries?

Sunday’s lineup looked much like those preseason plans, with Dee Gordon back out in center field, Cano at second base with Ryon Healy and Kyle Seager at the corners of the infield. The only difference was Denard Span wasn’t on the team to start the season.

Only they didn’t anticipate Gordon would be batting ninth with a .273 season batting average by September, Mike Zunino eighth with a .192 average and Seager seventh batting .218.

Sunday was Seager’s second start this year batting seventh in the order and he hadn’t started a game at seventh or lower since the 2014 season.

The bright spot lately has been Healy, who was supposed to lose the majority of playing time when Cano returned to convert to first base. Healy is batting .379 (22-for-58) over his past 16 games after his RBI single against Fernando Rodney in the eighth inning on Sunday.

He’s raised his season batting average to .251.

“The one thing about Heals is that velocity doesn’t overwhelm him,” Servais said. “Some players it will just speed up everything and they are out of their element. When a guy is on the mound throwing hard (Healy) doesn’t back off. He’s not blown away by velocity.

“The past 20-25 at-bats I think you’ve seen a good approach from him and that’s the approach we’ll need down the stretch.”

On tap

Erasmo Ramirez (1-3, 6.28 ERA) starts the 6:10 p.m. series opener Monday against the Baltimore Orioles, who will start left-hander Josh Rogers (1-4, 5.40 ERA) at Safeco Field. The game will broadcast on Root Sports and 710-AM radio.

This story was originally published September 2, 2018 at 5:12 PM.