Before Tuesday’s game, Oneil Cruz had been struggling early in the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cruz only had two hits and he had struck out eight times through four games. There were serious concerns about his performance at the plate and on defense, especially after a disastrous performance at center field on opening day.
However, that all changed when the Bucs faced off against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night. Cruz had a career day as he finally found his power for the 2026 season.
Cruz
hit a single in the second inning, which loaded the bases. Nick Yorke then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to start the scoring and give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth inning, he smashed a 444ft solo shot off of Brandon Williams to give the Pirates a 6-1 lead. Then in the top of the ninth inning he swung at the first pitch he saw off of Pierce Johnson, and it went 403ft for a two run blast.
Cruz finished the day with 3 hits, 3 RBIs, and 2 HRs in Cincinnati. He has been struggling with strikeouts so far this season, as he struck out twice on Monday’s 2-0 loss to the Reds. Now he did strike out once on Tuesday, but it was nice to finally see his bat come to life.
His two homers were his first two of the season for him. There was a lot of hype around Cruz’s power to start the season especially after the performance he put up in the World Baseball Classic.
Fans in Pittsburgh hope that this is just the beginning for Cruz this season. Tuesday night’s game showed that when Cruz is playing well the Bucs can win games and hopefully this is the sign of the beginning of a good season for the lefty. The Pirates really need players like Cruz and Bryan Reynolds to hit well and when they do the offense can look really scary.
The Pirates beat the Reds 8-3 Tuesday night and have now improved to 2-3 on the season. They finish their three-game series with Cincinnati on Wednesday at 12:40pm, with Paul Skenes set to pitch.
