Pirates’ Oneil Cruz gets taken out of game

Pittsburgh Pirates star Oneil Cruz has gone through a rough few games.

Cruz’s error and lackadaisical effort following a passed ball in center field raised eyebrows last week, and then, on Tuesday, he was removed from the game after he lost track of outs.

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Pirates manager Don Kelly took Cruz out after he failed to run out a double-play grounder against the Milwaukee Brewers. He grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Kelly said Cruz was removed because of “energy and effort going down the line.”

Cruz told reporters through an interpreter he understood the decision.

“DK had all the rights to do what he did, and I’ll back him up on that,” Cruz said. “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 and Cruz spoke afterward, and he communicated his expectations.

Cruz suffered an outfield blunder against the Texas Rangers. He misjudged a ball and watched it roll to the fence in the first inning of that game.

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On top of everything else, Cruz is not hitting like the slugger he has been promised to be. He has batted .156 with 31 strikeouts this month. Overall, he is hitting .211 with an OPS of .736 and 13 home runs. He is leading the National League with 26 stolen bases but leads MLB with 101 strikeouts.

“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 maintained that his issue on the basepaths had nothing to do with his slump at the plate.

“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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Pittsburgh fell to 32-48 this season after losing 9-3 to the Brewers. The Pirates are 20-22 since Kelly took over for Derek Shelton as manager.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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