A day after he was benched by Pirates Manager Don Kelly, Oneil Cruz is back in the lineup on Wednesday.
Cruz will not leadoff, batting 5th in the order with Paul Skenes starting in Milwaukee.
Cruz was given a private talking to when he didn’t hustle after a ball that got by him in centerfield on Friday. On Tuesday, he was benched when he didn’t run hard on a ground ball.
Dan Zangrilli and Joe Starkey reacted to the news of Cruz being back in the lineup.
“Maybe that’s worse,” Zangrilli said about the punishment of keeping Cruz in the lineup, instead of benching him. “
Kelly “doesn’t screw around”, added Zangrilli.
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The Pirates’ pre and post-game host says he thinks Kelly gave Cruz a warning after the incident Friday and after the lack of effort happened again, he was benched.
Adam Frazier will lead off against the Brewers instead of Cruz and Andrew McCutchen gets the day off.