‘He Responded,’ Oneil Cruz Flips Script With Career-Night

PITTSBURGH — The last time he suited up for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Oneil Cruz had one of the worst games of his major-league career.

In the field, Cruz committed three errors that ended up costing the Pirates three runs. At the plate, he finished 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

Maybe a few ill effects from Wednesday’s debacle carried over into Friday’s night’s matchup with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a game the Pirates lost 9-8. Leading off the top of the first inning, Corbin Carroll tripled to right field and came around to score on a little-league home run.

Cruz delivered a wild throw to third — his sixth error over his last four games — which allowed Carroll to advance 90 feet from third base.

Instead of letting another miscue snowball into more, Cruz rebounded from one of his poorest showings to one of his very best.

Cruz ended his night 5 for 5 with a double, two RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base. It was the first five-hit performance for Cruz in his career and he joined Bryan Reynolds as one of two Pirates’ player this season with five hits in one game.

“Five hits, ran the bases well. Did a lot of things. Nice bounce back for him,” said manager Derek Shelton. “At times we talk about what we isolate and focus on when someone has a bad game. He responded. He had five hits. Starting out the ninth, big at-bats. Overall, was proud of him, the way he bounced back.”

Cruz’s night easily could have gone the other way, but he was able to flush his first-inning throwing error along with Wednesday’s game at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

“It always feels good to have a 5 for 5 game,” Cruz said through coach/interpreter Stephen Morales. “But the most important thing is that you learn from your mistakes, and today I was able to bounce back and contribute to my team.”

Friday’s performance is an encouraging sign for Cruz. It shows a level of mental maturity that is needed over the grind that is a 162-game regular season. Not to say he didn’t already posses that attribute, but it hadn’t been tested on this level before.

Let’s not forget that this is Cruz’s first full season in the big leagues. The Pirates’ shortstop made a brief two-game stint for his MLB debut at the end of the 2021 season. He wasn’t brought up again until the middle of the year in 2022, when he played in 87 games to end the season.

After a serious ankle injury caused him to miss all but nine games last year, Cruz is back healthy and is two games shy of playing in 100 so far this season.

When thinking of Cruz, his tape-measure home runs and rocketed exit velocities are probably the first things that come to mind, and rightfully so. But with five more hits on the stat sheet, Cruz upped his batting average to a respectable .257. Though power is a big reason why, he’s had more impact than simply hitting home runs.

“He’s a good baseball player and he didn’t let anything affect him,” said Shelton. “Tough game the other day in Houston, he made an error in the first. He responded and played well the rest of the game. He was engaged, he had great at-bats.”

There’s no denying Cruz’s talent level. He can do things on the field that very few others in the game can do.

A five-hit game is already impressive enough, but considering the circumstances entering play and an early blunder on top of it, Cruz’s big night was even more promising.