Oneil Cruz Blasts Pair of Home Runs in Pirates’ 9-7 Loss to Phillies

Oneil Cruz belted a pair of home runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 9-7 loss against the Philadelphia Phillies at LECOM Park.

Cruz’s first home run came in his first at-bat of the game in the first inning. It was the front-end of back-to-back home runs with Bryan Reynolds, who followed with a blast to right-center.

The following inning, Cruz smashed a 434-foot home run to right field, a blast that put the Pirates ahead by a score of 5-0.

Oneil Cruz does it again!

His second rocket of the day 💪 pic.twitter.com/1PmDPXPanD

— MLB (@MLB) March 10, 2024

The Pirates scored earlier in the inning on a Carter Bins RBI-single.

Quinn Priester kept the Phillies at bay through the first two innings, but Johan Rojas got the Phillies on the board after driving in a run on a fielder’s choice. Kody Clemens hit a grand slam in the following inning to even the score at 5-apiece.

Former Pirates infielder Rodolfo Castro put the Phillies ahead with an RBI-double to right. Garrett Stubbs drove in Castro with a ground-rule double.

Edward Olivares trimmed the Pirates’ deficit to a run with a double to left field and Oneil Cruz tied the score 7-7 after bouncing into a fielder’s choice, which allowed Olivares to score.

The Phillies scored a pair of runs in the ninth inning on an error committed by second baseman Termarr Johnson.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

• Oneil Cruz finished the afternoon 2 for 4 with two home runs and four RBIs.
• Ke’Bryan Hayes went 2 for 4 with a pair of singles. Carter Bins went 2 for 3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
• Quinn Priester went 3.2 innings, allowed five runs on five hits,, didn’t walk a batter and struck out three.
• Jared Jones allowed to unearned runs in 2.2 innings pitched. He allowed two hits and punched out three. Jones again hit triple-digits with his fastball.

UP NEXT

The Pittsburgh Pirates will hit the road to Fort Myers for a matchup with the Boston Red Sox on Monday. Left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter will start for the Pirates. He will be opposed by righty Cooper Criswell. First pitch: 1:05 ET.