RedHawks' Cruz blasts three homers

It's the year of the long ball in the Pacific Coast League. Nelson Cruz joined the festivities on Saturday night.

The Major League veteran tied a team record with three homers and drove in five runs to power the Oklahoma RedHawks to a 9-5 victory over the Memphis Redbirds at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

Cruz, who also went deep once in Friday's loss to the Redbirds, has 30 homers for the season, leaving him two behind Albuquerque's Dallas McPherson for the PCL and Minor League lead.

"I have a different plan against different teams, depending on how they try to pitch to me," said Cruz, who's played 145 games in the Majors for the Rangers and Brewers. "[The Redbirds] pitch me away, so I tried to adjust to that."

The 28-year-old right fielder smacked a solo shot to left field in the first inning, drilled a three-run blast to center in the fifth and hit another bases-empty drive to center in the seventh to give the RedHawks (57-44) a 7-2 cushion.

"The first one was an 0-2 fastball, the second one was a curve and the last was a fastball away," Cruz said. "I'm doing a better job of recognizing pitches, so my bat speed is better.

"I'm really happy with what's happening this season with our team, and I'm happy I could help our team win the game."

Cruz became the sixth PCL player to hit three homers in a game this season. The others were Nashville's Russell Branyan on May 16; Las Vegas' John Lindsey, May 17; McPherson, May 19; Tucson's Jamie D'Antona, July 4; and Iowa's Jason Dubois, July 9.

It also was the third three-homer game in RedHawks' history. Adrian Gonzalez did it on April 25, 2005 and Victor Diaz duplicated the feat on Sept. 1, 2007, both at Albuquerque.

Cruz started the night ranked third in the PCL with a .341 batting average. He leads the league with 80 RBIs.

The native of the Dominican Republic was acquired by the Rangers from Milwaukee on July 28, 2006 along with outfielder Carlos Lee for four players. In 2007, his first full season with Texas, he split time between the Major League club and the PCL. He hit .235 with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 96 games for the Rangers.

Cruz already had three multi-homer games this season, most recently against New Orleans on May 19.

Brian Gordon (3-2) was the beneficiary of the record-tying power display, allowing an unearned run on five hits over six innings with a walk and six strikeouts.

P.J. Walters (7-2) surrendered six runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out seven, over 4 1/3 innings for Memphis (55-45).