Pirates’ Oneil Cruz Making Immediate Impact Since Injury

Oneil Cruz played a big part in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ hot start to the 2026 season. Unfortunately for both him and the team, the 27-year-old landed on the injured list at the beginning of June with a fairly significant hand injury. 

The good news is that Cruz was finally activated off the 60-day IL earlier this week, but even general manager Ben Cherington admitted that he wasn’t sure exactly the type of player Pittsburgh would be getting back.

Given the specific injury Cruz sustained to his hand, the Pirates executive noted that it can take time for players to fully regain their strength, and there was uncertainty about how that would impact Cruz because of how hard he swings.

Well, Cruz was back in Pittsburgh’s lineup earlier this week and wasted no time making a massive impact for the team. 

The left-handed hitter appeared in two games in the Pirates’ series against the Detroit Tigers and ended up going two for six at the plate and driving in three runs. 

This stat line included a massive home two-run home run, which ended up being pivotal in Pittsburgh’s 4-1 victory on Wednesday.

The best news is that Cruz made it clear after hitting that homer that he didn’t feel the injury in his hand either, but admitted it’s still a process getting back to full strength.

It’s definitely a small sample size, but at the very least, Cruz showed all of baseball that he’s still a power threat, even if it isn’t on a consistent basis just yet.

“Just lengthens everything out the the lineup when talking about Oneil,” said manager Don Kelly. 

“Geat to have him back. I mean, he was off to such a great start and certainly don't want him putting pressure trying to jump right back into it, and to see him the way he swing the bat tonight was really really impressive.”

The Pirates have had a rough second half of the season and have been searching for some consistency since the All-Star break. Despite all of that, Pittsburgh isn’t completely out of the postseason hunt just yet.

That said, the Pirates’ upcoming West Coast road trip could end up making or breaking the season as a whole, and Pittsburgh should be thankful that it has Cruz in its lineup for these critical series.