PITTSBURGH -- Through the ups and downs of a season, one of the few constants in the Pirates’ clubhouse is Stephen Morales wearing a smile. The assistant coach and translator almost always has a joke or a grin ready to go, but make no mistake: Morales is willing to poke the bear, too.
And in Pittsburgh, there is no bigger bear than the Bucs' 6-foot-7 center fielder, Oneil Cruz.
After a torrid start to the season, homering eight times in his first 25 games, Cruz had fallen into a slugging slump in May, not going deep all month. Some of that can be attributed to factors outside of his control, like lower back tightness that kept him out of the lineup for several days, but Cruz is the team’s leadoff hitter and catalyst. If he’s not hitting, the Pirates probably aren’t scoring.
So before the game, Morales decided to throw the gauntlet down.
"I just told him, 'Hey, I just thought I was going to wait another month to see you hit another home run,'” Morales said with a laugh. “I got under him a little bit, like I always do, just to get the best out of him, and he responded.”
Oh, he responded. Not once, but twice.
Cruz's first homer of the night was the hardest-hit homer of his career, registering at 117.9 mph off the bat and traveling a Statcast-projected 442 feet.
With one out in the ninth, Cruz pounced on an Abner Uribe sinker and drove it 427 feet with an exit velocity of 113.4 mph to tie it. It was the first multihomer game of Cruz’s career, and the first time in the Statcast era that a Pirate hit two home runs that hard.
That second homer gave the Pirates a second chance, which they took advantage of when Uribe threw a wild pitch in the 10th, allowing Adam Frazier to score the winning tally in a 6-5 win over the Brewers.
Manager Don Kelly has repeatedly brought up how the Pirates need just that one swing to hopefully get their offense going. Turns out it might have actually taken two swings, plus a little trash talking from Morales. After the second homer, Cruz shot Morales a look in the dugout. Morales told him that if he did that another 20 or 30 times, his coach would finally be happy.
“I don't know if I want to take that all the time, but yeah, it feels good," Cruz said with Morales interpreting. After translating that answer, Morales shared that he just wants the best for the Pirates’ center fielder, during which Cruz quipped, “Was it you that hit the home run?”
They weren’t Morales’ home runs, but it is a sign of how much Cruz has grown offensively this season. Now roughly a week after returning from his back injury, his timing appears to be back, but that’s not really what stands out to Kelly when looking at his recent work.
“Really, I'm more proud of him and his approach,” Kelly said. “You look at the walks, the plate discipline, the way that he's able to work the count, get on base, use his legs, and we saw the power tonight. Just a real special player."
The tying homer probably isn’t the best support of that improved approach. It took just two pitches, and Cruz jumped on the second sinker that didn’t quite get low and inside enough. It was the type of swing the Pirates needed, and the type of spot Cruz craves.
“Those are the situations as a player you want to be in just to grow,” Cruz said.
After having their streak of 26 straight games with scoring four runs or fewer snapped Thursday, Cruz could be the guy who helps get the Pirates’ offense going. If nothing else, he’s optimistic.
“Everybody's doing their part and doing their work they need to to be in a better spot offensively,” Cruz said. “I think we're heading in the right direction."