After missing the past two months and stints on both the 10 and 60-day IL, Oneil Cruz is back.
The Pirates activated Cruz to the 26-man roster on Monday following a fractured left hand injury.
Cruz hasn’t played since he suffered the injury on June 7 in Atlanta and missed 58 games during the heart of summer.
He appeared in six minor league games between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis over the last two weeks before returning to Pittsburgh for final evaluation.
The Pirates also activated reliever
Yohan Ramirez off the paternity list and optioned left-handed starter/reliever Hunter Barco and outfielder Ronny Simon to Triple-A.
Cruz is not in the lineup as the Pirates begin the first of three games against the Detroit Tigers to begin the back half of a six-game home stand.
Left-handed Framber Valdez will start for Detroit, but Cruz is batting .312 with a .361 on-base percentage and .506 slugging in 77 at-bats against lefties this season.
In 64 games, Cruz is slashing .264/.350/.472 with an .822 OPS. He was on pace for his first 30/30 season with 14 home runs and 21 steals before the halfway point.
Inconsistency and struggles against lefties plagued Cruz in 2025, while the injury ripped apart what has been his best season in the majors.
His 44 RBIs still rank fourth on the team, and the offense has significantly missed his power and speed either leading off or in the middle of the lineup.
It may be a little too late for the Pirates, who are 61-65 and sit 6.5 games out of the final wild card.
The Pirates are looking up at the Cardinals, Marlins, and Diamondbacks as the Phillies and Padres (67-58) are tied for the last two NL playoff seeds.
