It had been 341 days since Oneil Cruz last hit a home run with the Pittsburgh Pirates. On Tuesday, he connected on his first homer of the spring in the Pirates’ 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Bradenton.
With the Pirates (5-6) trailing by three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Cruz sent a 411-foot blast over the center field fence off of Mitch White. The ball left Cruz’s bat at 115 mph.
The first Cruz Missile of 2024
pic.twitter.com/2EGc7bSr4u
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 5, 2024
Two innings later, the Pirates evened the score at 3-all. Liover Peguero scored on a throwing error from pitcher Ryan Jennings, and Tsung-Che Cheng belted a solo home run to left-center. Peguero would later play the part of hero.
After the Blue Jays (3-8) regained a 5-3 lead off of Brent Honeywell Jr. in the top of the eighth, the Pirates took it right back in the bottom of the frame. Jase Bowen attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt and while a run scored, the Blue Jays recorded two outs on the play.
Peguero followed Bowen’s bunt attempt with a go-ahead two-run home run to left-center field to put the Pirates up 6-5.
Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning on a Daulton Varsho RBI-groundout. They struck for two more runs in the fifth inning courtesy of a Nathan Lukes run-scoring double before Bo Bichette drove him in with a base hit to left.
The Pittsburgh Pirates will head to Sarasota for another matchup with the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. Mitch Keller will be on the mound for the Pirates and will be opposite Julio Teheran. It’s the first night game this spring for Pittsburgh. First pitch: 6:05 ET.
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