MILWAUKEE (AP) — Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz said he lost track of the outs when he didn’t run out a double-play grounder, a move that led to his removal from the Pirates’ 9-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
The Pirates trailed 7-3 and had a runner on first with one out in the seventh when Cruz grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Cruz slowed down after the Brewers got the force play at second, and he said afterward he believed that was the third out of the inning.
Pirates manager Don Kelly removed Cruz in favor of a defensive replacement in the eighth inning and said it was due to Cruz’s “energy and effort going down the line.” Cruz said after the game he understood Kelly’s decision.
“DK had all the rights to do what he did, and I’ll back him up on that,” Cruz said through an interpreter. “It was my fault because I thought there were two outs in that situation. That’s why I let off running to first base.”
Kelly said he explained to Cruz the reason for the benching.
“We talked,” Kelly said. “He knows the expectation. Right there, I feel we fell a little short.”
When he was asked whether Cruz would be back in the starting lineup Wednesday, Kelly was noncommittal.
“We’re going to sit down and talk, and we’ll figure that out,” Kelly said.
Cruz, 26, has batted just .156 (12 of 77) with 31 strikeouts this month after having a productive start to the season that included owning a .911 OPS in early May and hitting a 122.9-mph homer against the Brewers on May 25. That homer was the hardest-hit ball since Statcast started tracking that data in 2015.
Cruz is now hitting .208 with a .321 on-base percentage, .404 slugging percentage, 13 homers, 31 RBIs and 26 steals in 71 games.
“He’s struggling at the plate right now,” Kelly said. “It’s difficult when you’re going through that and trying to figure it out. He’s working hard to do that. That’s one thing we’ve got to be mindful of, is not letting that offense carry over to defense and base running, and the energy and effort that we’re giving on any other aspects of the game as well.”
Cruz said his hitting slump “had nothing to do with what happened today” and isn’t impacting his focus on the basepaths or in the field. But he also said he appreciated Kelly’s instructions to him and noted how he can learn from veteran teammates Andrew McCutchen and Tommy Pham.
“They’re a really good example,” Cruz said. “They always run hard. They always go out there to do their 100%. That’s a teaching point for me. I accepted the way DK came to me and explained it and presented it to me.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Steve Megargee, The Associated Press
