Cruz's heads-up dash helps Pirates get Rowdy on the bases

CINCINNATI -- The key, as Oneil Cruz would explain, is to take short steps toward home, just in case an opportunity presents itself.

Cruz was stationed on second with the bases full of Bucs in the top of the third Tuesday at Great American Ball Park when Edward Olivares lifted a flare to right field. Off the bat, it wasn’t clear if it would fall in for a hit or if Jake Fraley would be able to catch it. It found grass, but that type of play almost always results in each runner just moving up a station.

Except Cruz was still watching the play and saw Fraley lob the ball into second base. He was off, accelerating to near top speed almost instantly because he kept his feet moving and scored. As third-base coach Mike Rabelo would tell manager Derek Shelton after the inning, Cruz never stopped moving or watching Fraley.

“Never did it in the Minors or anything like that,” Cruz said, via interpreter and coach Stephen Morales. “The only two or three times I did it was in the winter ball."

It was a play right out of the April 2023 Pirates playbook, a month where they were one of the best teams in baseball because they were the most aggressive team on the basepaths. It was just one of several heads-up plays they made Tuesday against the Reds, jump-starting the offense to a 9-5 victory.

Andrew McCutchen stole a bag in the first after drawing a walk, followed by Rowdy Tellez -- yes, Rowdy Tellez -- swiping second later in the inning. Tellez’s swiped bag came at the perfect time, too, because Nick Gonzales followed with a base hit to right to plate him.

“I don't think I had that going into the game today,” Shelton joked about his first baseman with the 100% steal success rate.

“We were all joking in the dugout when Rowdy got a bag,” winning pitcher Mitch Keller said. “[Yasmani Grandal] made a joke and said, ‘If Rowdy can do it, I’m gonna go!’ We all gave him [expletive] for that.”

The Pirates’ offense wasn’t totally reliant on the basepaths -- Bryan Reynolds homered in the first to extend his hitting streak to 22 games, the longest in the Majors this year, and Jared Triolo’s two-run shot in the fifth effectively put the game out of reach -- but when this team runs, it usually is its best self offensively.

“I think we’re at our best when we’re using our athleticism like Cruz did,” Reynolds said. “That’s just something we’ve got to keep doing.”

In April of last year, the Pirates were one of the most aggressive baserunning clubs in the Majors, using it as a catalyst. It was also completely unsustainable, and they were eventually caught more. The offense cooled down and the losses started coming then.

This year, they’re one of the most efficient basestealing clubs, successful on 84% of their chances, but the Pirates aren’t taking as many chances. Even with a couple of swiped bags Tuesday, their 43 steals as a team still rank in the bottom 10 in the sport.

Some of that can be due to personnel, some of it situation, some of it not getting guys to first base enough. But this offense is looking for a spark, a way to get more consistent. Can some more aggressive baserunning be a pathway to getting the hitters going?

"I think it can,” Shelton said. “I think you saw it today with the way we ran the bases.”

"It's always good to see our team moving around the bases, because that will spark our offense,” Cruz said. “It's a pretty good thing that you see some movement around the basepaths."

Perhaps this is the start of a more aggressive ballclub, one that can continue to create more opportunities on the basepaths. The Pirates have the speed to do it. Cruz, Reynolds, Gonzales, Triolo and Jack Suwinski all have sprint speeds of more than 28 feet per second, a tick above the Major League average.

And of course, there’s the new speedster, Tellez. Any chance he could take Cruz in a race now that he grabbed his bag?

"Maybe if I'm running backwards,” Cruz teased.