Coach Needles Cruz Leading to Two Homers

PITTSBURGH — Oneil Cruz entered Friday night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers having gone nearly a calendar month without hitting a home run.

Cruz came out of the gate sizzling and hit eight homers in the team’s first 28 games of the season. His eighth home run of the year came on Apr. 26 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but since then, Cruz had gone 24 games without one. Until Friday.

Pirates coach/interpreter Stephen Morales let Cruz know before that game that it’s been a while since his last homer. Perhaps the reminder served as some motivation. 

“I just told him, ‘hey, I just thought I was going to wait another month to see you hit another home run.’ I got under him a little bit, like I always do, just to get the best out of him, and he responded,” Morales joked. “And the second one, he hit [that], and I’m like, ‘ok, fine, you can do that 20 more times or 30 more times and I’ll be happy.'”

Cruz got the Pirates on the board in the bottom of the third inning by blasting a 442-foot home run to center field. The gargantuan swing resulted in an exit velocity of 117.9 mph, which is the hardest-hit home run of his career. 

Things we love to see = Cruz Missiles 💣 pic.twitter.com/6vBzOVDD4f

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 23, 2025

But it wasn’t the biggest swing of the night for Cruz. 

The Pirates’ center fielder hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. This one measured measured 427 feet to right field. 

Pittsburgh then won the game 6-5 in the bottom of the 10th on a walk-off wild pitch, but it wouldn’t have happened without the clutch homer in the inning before. 

“Those are the situations as a player you want to be in just to grow,” Cruz said through Morales. “If it’s to tie the game or beat your team ahead, for sure, you want to be in those situations.”

He does it AGAIN 🙌 pic.twitter.com/TWIUQxSmcW

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 24, 2025

The game featured several lead changes and a couple ties. There was a play at the plate in the bottom of the 10th that didn’t go the Pirates’ way. But the emotions of that call were quickly erased when Adam Frazier advanced 90 feet to home on a ball in the dirt from Abner Uribe to seal the win for the Pirates. 

“I don’t know where to start,” manager Don Kelly said after the wild win. “What a gusty win, back and forth. The guys continued to battle, grind it out.”

Entering the first game of the series on Thursday, the Bucs matched the MLB record by going 26-straight games of scoring four runs or fewer. Over the last two nights, the Pirates have combined for 11 runs and 21 hits.

It’s small progress, but it’s progress nonetheless.

Cruz feels like the offense is close to showing what it’s capable of – and he’s a big reason for that.