Cruz raking, feeling 'way better' en route to full strength

PITTSBURGH -- Oneil Cruz's surgically repaired left ankle isn’t quite 100 percent yet. The overall season results aren’t quite 100 percent there yet either as he continues to climb back from that injury.

At least for right now, the outlook for both is looking quite good.

Cruz picked up a pair of hits, including a bases-clearing double, in his first three-RBI game since 2022, but it wasn’t enough for the Pirates to take the series against the Angels, dropping the rubber match at PNC Park Wednesday afternoon, 5-4.

That four-run fifth inning where Cruz doubled and Connor Joe drove him home with two outs appeared to be enough for the Pirates on paper. They entered play 14-1 when they scored at least four runs, while the Angels were 2-13 in games where their starter allowed at least four runs.

But the Angels immediately responded with a three-run top of the sixth to take the lead, with Brandon Drury’s double bringing home the tying run and setting up Willie Calhoun for the sacrifice fly that would end up being the winning run. The Angels’ bullpen took it from there, retiring the last 13 straight with seven strikeouts.

"Their bullpen threw the ball well,” said manager Derek Shelton. “We have to create our own opportunities. We created the opportunity in the fifth. [Cruz] got the big hit, then Connor backed it up, but after that, we didn't get anything going."

There isn’t exactly a clear roadmap for how to get this offense back on track, but one of the best ways would seem to be if someone like Cruz could take off at the plate. He’s done well of late, slashing .327/.365/.510 with a pair of homers and nine RBIs over his previous 15 games, totaling 52 trips to the plate. In his five games played this homestand, he’s homered twice in addition to his double Wednesday. All four of his batted balls Wednesday were smoked, too, registering exit velocities of 109.7, 109.2, 106.7 and 98.8 mph.

“Yeah for sure,” said Cruz, via interpreter and coach Stephen Morales, when asked if he had been feeling better as of late.

“[It’s the] product of a lot of work lately and feeling a lot better now,” Cruz said.

That work involved several tweaks to help him get to the ball better. That includes his hand positioning, moving them up to give him a better path to the ball. The GIF below illustrates the change in hand position and swing path, comparing his swing on April 21 -- the day he admitted that he hadn’t been feeling as confident -- on the left to his double Wednesday on the right:

“[I’m] in a way better spot now,” Cruz said.

The Pirates also tweaked his front foot positioning to help him be a little more free with his swing, closing off his stance a bit. The results the past couple weeks would suggest the change has been working.

That foot/ankle region has been of some discussion of late. Cruz has caught his cleat several times while playing this season, causing him to get checked out on the field by the training staff, including on Monday night. Cruz sat Tuesday in an instance of a scheduled off-day, which is beneficial for a player still getting back into the full swing of the season while coming back from an ankle fracture.

“With any professional athletes coming back from pretty significant injuries, it's more likely than not that things occur from time to time,” director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said Wednesday, shortly before confirming the team doesn’t foresee this being a long-term problem.

A couple weeks ago, the discussion circled around why the Pirates were continuing to play Cruz after a slow start. Shelton and general manager Ben Cherington maintained that he needed reps after missing almost all of last season. Now, their faith is starting to be rewarded.

"This kid's a good player,” Shelton said. “I think, as we've talked about, he's missed an entire year, we just need to make sure that we keep him fresh and we keep ramping up at-bats. He's a talented kid and I think we're seeing that over the last five-six-seven days."