Oneil Cruz’s Huge Game Leads Pirates’ Charge in 11-2 Win Over Phillies

Oneil Cruz led an eruption with the bats for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 11-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday afternoon in Clearwater.

Cruz connected on a pair of home runs — a three-run homer in the third inning and a two-run blast in the fifth. He also delivered an RBI-single in the second inning.

Oneil Cruz swats his 7th‼️ #SpringTraining home run pic.twitter.com/btgH7KHYyZ

— MLB (@MLB) March 18, 2024

Cruz’s efforts led a complete performance from the Pirates’ bats as they finished the game with 16 hits.

Joshua Palacios opened the scoring by plating a run on a double-play ball and Billy McKinney tacked on another run for the Pirates with an RBI-double.

With a 3-0 lead heading into the third inning, Rowdy Tellez connected on his first homer of spring, a three-run blast to double the Pirates’ lead.

Martín Pérez was on the mound for the Pirates (11-13-1)  and allowed a pair of unearned runs in five innings pitched. Jake Cave doubled home a run in the fourth inning and Nick Castellanos gave the Phillies (8-10-5) another with an RBI-single in the fifth.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

• Oneil Cruz finished the afternoon 3 for 4 with a pair of homers, six RBIs and two runs scored. He now has seven homers this spring. As with Cruz, Ke’Bryan Hayes had a three-hit game (all singles) and scored a run.
• Rowdy Tellez went 2 for 4 with a homer and three RBIs. Jared Triolo went 2 for 2 with a walk and three runs scored. Billy McKinney had a pair of hits, two runs and an RBI. Henry Davis went 2 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
• Martín Pérez racked up a spring-high eight strikeouts with hits allowed and a pair of walks in his five innings pitched.
• Roansy Contreras didn’t allow a run and yielded two hits in 1.2 innings pitched. While he recorded strikeouts for all five outs, his command issued continued with three walks.

UP NEXT

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a day off on Tuesday before the head back to Tampa for a Wednesday night matchup with the New York Yankees. Left-hander Marco Gonzales will make his fourth spring start after his best outing his last time out. First pitch: 6:35 ET.