Oneil Cruz left the Braves’ victory over the Pirates with lower back tightness. Pittsburgh’s shortstop and centerfielder attempted to steal second base on a 3-2 count, but ball four gave him the free base. As he pulled up ahead of second base, Cruz seemed to tweak something and pulled up in pain.
Andrew McCutchen grounded into a double-play in the next at-bat, which advanced Cruz to third base. He stayed in the game for the 10th inning before being removed in a series of changes as the Pirates emptied the bench in the 11th inning.
Cruz is officially listed as “day-to-day” and his status will be one to monitor moving forward. He joined Bryan Reynolds and manager Don Kelly in the clubhouse early.
While it has been a disastrous start to the season for Pittsburgh, Cruz has been mostly a bright spot. He is leading the MLB with 16 stolen bases and slashing .246/.374/.476 through the early stages of this season.
More updates will be added as they are provided by the team.
