Nelson Cruz Hits 20 Homers for 9th Straight Season

Seattle Mariners star outfielder Nelson Cruz crushed his 20th home run of the season to tie Monday's game against the Houston Astros in the seventh inning.

The Mariners went on to win the game 9-7 in extra innings, but the homer also continued a streak for Cruz dating back eight previous seasons. The homer gave Cruz 20 for the ninth consecutive season, making him the only player to do so to this point, per the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN.com).

Two other players—Brian McCann and David Ortiz—completed the task in each of the previous eight seasons. McCann has 20-plus homers in nine straight campaigns (2008-16) and currently has 11 home runs this season. Ortiz did the same for 15 consecutive seasons from 2002-2016 but called it quits after last season.

Cruz made his major league debut with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2005 but was dealt to the Texas Rangers in July of 2006 along with Carlos Lee in exchange for the Rangers' Francisco Cordero, Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix. Cruz didn't play more than 100 games in a campaign until 2009 as a member of the Texas Rangers.

Since that season, Cruz has yet to notch fewer than 20 homers. He has also been nominated to five All-Star Games and took home the Silver Slugger award during his 44-homer 2015 campaign—his first with the Mariners.

Cruz has totaled at least 40 home runs in each of the last three seasons but would need to pick up his power pace the rest of the way to extend that to a fourth. He still leads the majors in RBI and earned a spot on the All-Star roster despite turning 37 in early July. The slugger should be a key piece in the middle of the batting order as the club pursues a playoff berth.

He and the Mariners return to the diamond Tuesday evening for the second of a three-game set against the Astros that concludes Wednesday.