Nelson Cruz hits 41st homer in Seattle Mariners' victory

SEATTLE - Seattle Mariners slugger Nelson Cruz has maintained all season that the only numbers that matter are the ones that involve wins and losses. But even he had to take a moment Saturday night to acknowledge the importance of his 41st home run this season - matching the most in baseball this season while establishing a new career high.

"You want to get better; you work in the offseason to get better," he said after hitting one of Seattle's four home runs in a 7-2 win over Colorado on Saturday. "When you accomplish bigger numbers than the year before, they're important and they matter."

Cruz's home run matched the season total of Baltimore's Chris Davis for the most in baseball. His two-run shot in the seventh inning helped the Mariners (69-74) turn a close game into a blowout.

Second baseman Robinson Cano, first baseman Jesus Montero and left fielder Franklin Gutierrez added solo shots as the Mariners won for the eighth time in 12 games.

Colorado (59-83) had just four hits while seeing its two-game winning streak snapped.

"They jumped out to a big lead early, so it was tough playing from behind," Colorado manager Walt Weiss said.

Seattle starter Roenis Elias (5-8) allowed just one hit and a pair of unearned runs in 5 1/3 innings on the way to earning his first win since June 19. He started to lose his control in the fifth, when two walks and his own error led to two runs to cut Seattle's lead to 5-2. Elias struck out eight.

"He seemed to get out of whack a little bit (in the sixth) and couldn't find it," manager Lloyd McClendon said. "I just didn't want that inning to get out of hand."

Third baseman Kyle Seager had two hits and scored twice, while Cruz went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Cruz went over the 40-homer and 100-RBI marks for the first time last season, and he has a chance to reach both targets again. He has 87 RBIs with 19 games left.

Colorado starter Yohan Flande (3-3) gave up two of the home runs and couldn't get out of the fourth inning in a six-hit, four-run performance over 3 2/3 innings.

Three solo home runs helped the Mariners jump out to a 5-0 lead over the first five innings.

Cano and Montero each homered off Flande, while Gutierrez added a solo homer in the fifth.

Cano hit a monster shot on the second pitch of the second inning. His 438-foot home run to right field - Cano's 16th homer of the season - gave Seattle a 1-0 lead.

Cruz added a two-out RBI single in the third as the Mariners went ahead 2-0, and Montero added a solo homer in the fourth.

After Seattle center fielder Shawn O'Malley singled and reached third base on a throwing error by Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado, Mariners catcher John Hicks set up a perfect squeeze play with a bunt. That scored O'Malley from third to give Seattle a 4-0 lead.

Gutierrez, who was starting for the first time in a week because of a pelvic condition, hit a one-out solo home run off Colorado reliever David Hale in the fifth.

Colorado scored twice in the sixth, on a fielder's choice groundout by second baseman DJ LeMahieu and a sac fly by Arenado.

In the seventh, after a leadoff single from Seager, Cruz hit a 0-2 pitch over the left-field fence to break his career-high mark of 40 homers in a season, which he set last year with Baltimore.

"He's pretty special," McClendon said. "He makes any ballpark look small."

The number that Cruz is watching now is six, which is the number of games out of the wild-card that surging Seattle lies after 143 games.

"Right now we're playing the best baseball that we have all year," Cruz said. "It's difficult, but we have a shot. We have a pretty good team."

Cano hasn't lost hope, either.

"We're going to keep playing," he said. "We're going to face Houston, we're going to face Texas, we're going to face all of them. You never know what's going to happen."

NOTES: Seattle LHP James Paxton has been named as Sunday's starter, although the Mariners will have to activate him from the 15-day disabled list before he is eligible to play. Paxton has been out since May 28 because of a strained finger. ... Colorado SS Jose Reyes (sore Achilles' tendon) was not in the lineup again, marking the third day that he was out. ... The Rockies selected the contract of C Tom Murphy from Triple-A Albuquerque after Friday's game, and he made his major-league debut Saturday. He went 0-for-3. ... Colorado cleared a spot for Murphy on its 40-man roster by placing C Nick Hundley on the 60-day disabled list with a cervical strain. ... The Rockies sent RHP Tyler Chatwood on a rehab assignment to Single-A Ashville. ... The Mariners have 74 losses, one fewer than they had last season.