Bruce: Amazin’ ly lucky to be dealt to ‘fun’ situation
CLEVELAND — Can anyone, in any walk of life, match Jay Bruce for the best rags-to-riches tale of 2017?
The affable slugger cracked a firstinning, three-run homer Wednesday afternoon to lead the Indians to their record-setting 21st straight victory, 5-3 over the Tigers, topping the 2002 Athletics for the American League mark. The Indians are now 90-56. The team with which Bruce started the season, the Mets, entered Wrigley Field on Wednesday at 63-81.
“I think that I pretty much went from what ended up being one of the least fun situations in baseball to the most fun,” Bruce said after the game. “That’s no slight to the Mets at all. But to have the opportunity to come to a team like this is something that doesn’t happen very often.”
What a turnaround for Bruce, who reported to spring training with the Mets only because general manager Sandy Alderson couldn’t find a team willing to offer a half-decent return for the 30-year-old. Then the July 31 non-waivers trade deadline passed without any club expressing serious interest in Bruce. Then he cleared waivers.
It took an injury to Indians outfielder Michael Brantley for Cleveland to acquire Bruce on Aug. 9, absorbing all of his remaining salary (about $5 million) and giving up minor league pitcher Ryder Ryan. Since Bruce joined the Indians the next day, Cleveland is 30-5.
“Probably some selection bias,” Bruce said, smiling. “But in all honesty, I feel like I do add something positive to a team. This team, I feel, has added something positive to me as well. It gives you a little boost. You come in, you’re ready to play, you want to come to the ballpark and you’re coming into something that’s bigger than yourself.”
“He brings that RBI productive bat that sits behind Edwin [Encarnacion] or around Carlos [Santana],” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Bruce. “You make a mistake and he knows what to do with it.”
That is what occurred Wednesday. With two outs and two men on, and the Indians in jeopardy of finishing an inning in the red for just the fifth time in this streak, Bruce connected on a high, 1-1 fastball from Tigers starter Buck Farmer and sent it just over the wall in left-center field. An umpire review upheld the blast, and Bruce had tied his career high with 34 homers, which he also tallied with the 2012 Reds.
“This team was awesome before I got here,” Bruce said. “I feel like I just added to what was already a superdeep and talented lineup.”
His involvement with this record, in a perverse way, also adds to what was already a miserable Mets season. That, however, is not Bruce’s problem. He put the rags behind and is embracing the riches.