Cruz impresses dad with power

Prior to this season, Cruz had only one professional home run in his three-year career. Through the first 51 games of 1998, the 6-foot, 185-pounder has five.

That total was boosted by a pair of homers Sunday against Bakersfield. Cruz hit a two-run blast in the seventh inning and another in the eighth to help Lancaster score nine runs in the final two frames and pull away for a 15-6 win over the Blaze.

It was the first time that Cruz had ever hit two home runs in a game on any level. It couldn't have come at a better time with his father, Tommy, who is the Mariners' roving hitting instructor, in town for the homestand.

"It was very special for me," Cruz said. "I wanted to have a good game with my father here."

Cruz had actually struggled in his first three at-bats of the game, failing to reach base. But all that changed on a 2-0 pitch from Bakersfield's Jesse Travis in the seventh inning. Cruz turned on the pitch and pulled it over the left-center field wall.

"He has been swinging a good bat recently," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "I was thrilled to see him drop the head and pull the ball on the first home run, because he has a tendency to go to right field because he does it so well."

Cruz's second home run, which came off Phillip Bailey, went to right-center. It appeared to bounce off the outfield wall, but umpire Jason Moore ruled that it bounced off a light pole behind the wall and was therefore a home run.

Late heroics

Although Cruz highlighted the seventh and eighth innings, he surely wasn't the only JetHawk to come up big late in Sunday's game. The JetHawks used seven hits and four walks in the final two frames to stretch a 6-2 lead to a 15-2 advantage.

As it turned out, the JetHawks needed the extra runs. Allan Westfall struggled in the top of the ninth, allowing four runs on four hits, including a two-run home run from Art Baeza.

"Sometimes it's harder to pitch in a blowout than in a close game," Burleson said. "You don't have the same adrenaline."

Coming around

When John Kelly came to the JetHawks on May 4 from Class AA Orlando, Fla., he was a victim of the numbers. The Rays just had too many starting pitchers. Kelly was the odd man out, even though he had been pitching relatively well.

But in his first three games with the JetHawks, Kelly struggled. He lost his first two starts and was taken off the hook in his third after allowing seven runs in 4 1/3 of the JetHawks' 10-7 win over Lake Elsinore May 19. He entered Sunday's game with a 8.80 ERA.

"I think he may have been down a little bit when he was sent down," Burleson said.

But that changed Sunday against the Blaze, as Kelly began to look like the pitcher he was in Orlando. He allowed only two runs on two solo home runs in five innings of work to pick up his first victory in Lancaster. He surrendered only four hits and two walks while striking out six.

"He's got to continue making quality pitches whether he's in the Cal League or the South Atlantic League," Burleson said.