PITTSBURGH -- Oneil Cruz’s early-season exploits have been anything but a fluke.
The sixth-year outfielder extended his league-leading hitting streak to 12 games in Monday night's 16-5 win with a fourth-inning single off of Nationals reliever Paxton Schultz.
Cruz entered the game batting .400 (18-for-45) with three doubles, five home runs and 13 RBIs during his streak. He ranks in the top 10 in hits (22), home runs (5), RBIs (16), batting average (.355), slugging percentage (.645) and OPS (1.074) while tied for the NL lead in stolen bases, with seven. He’s also recorded a hit in all seven of the team’s home games.
Cruz finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBIs, two of which came on a 114.1 mph single off the right-field wall in the sixth inning. He also scored three runs.
“He’s doing great, especially against lefties,” outfielder Bryan Reynolds said. “I know he put a lot of work into that. When he puts his head to something, it really shows up. This season has been great for him. He’s just going to keep going and continue to do what he does.”
Manager Don Kelly credits Cruz’s success with a change of approach that the outfielder made over the offseason. While last season Cruz may have had more of a passive approach offensively, Kelly said he’s been in attack mode from the moment he steps into the batter’s box, looking to do damage on every pitch until he recognizes it's out of the strike zone.
It was a change that Kelly noted early on during Spring Training.
“He worked on it,” Kelly said. “That's all the conversions with [hitting coach Matt Hague] and the group going into the offseason, but for him to dive in and work as hard as he did, especially against left-handed pitching, it’s hats off to him.”