Oneil Cruz leads Pirates over Cubs 12-1

It was a long wait for Pittsburgh Pirates fans to see Oneil Cruz brought up, and when it finally happened, he did not disappoint.

Cruz went 2-for-5 at the plate with a double, two runs scored, and four RBI, while fellow recent call-up Bligh Madris finished the night 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI to help send the Buccos to a 12-1 win over the Chicago Cubs.

In fact, Cruz was so impressive that he earned himself a slideshow running on the front page of MLB.com that highlighted the incredible things he did on Monday night. You can check out the slideshow here, but here’s what happened:

• 31.5 feet per second sprint speed on his sacrifice fly
• 112.9 mph exit velocity on his double
• 96.7 mph throw from short to get the out at first
• Which means Cruz has the hardest throw by an infielder in the entire MLB this season, the hardest hit ball by a Pirate this season, and the three fastest sprint speeds by a Pirate this year.

To say that the 6’7” Cruz is an athletic marvel would appear to be an understatement at this point.

Other Pirates multi-hit guys were Daniel Vogelbach, who finished 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI, and Bryan Reynolds, who finished 2-for-3 with two runs.

On the mound, JT Brubaker earned his first win of the year, as he continues to mostly pitch pretty well. He finished with a line of six innings pitched, no runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts. He’s now 1-5 on the year.

The Bucs will look to keep it rollin’ again tonight against the Cubs, and we’ll be back on Cruz watch as well this evening.