Cruz's defensive miscues continue to pile up in costly ways

HOUSTON -- As the ball left the bat of Yordan Alvarez and sailed high in the air in left field, two aggressive defenders began charging towards it in hopes of making an inning-ending catch Wednesday night. Bryan Reynolds approached it and seemingly lined himself up to complete the play when Oneil Cruz came charging in with hopes of doing it himself. 

Cruz admitted he heard Reynolds' voice amongst the screaming fans inside Houston's Minute Maid Park, but he still kept tracking it before the ball ultimately fell and trickled away into foul territory. Cruz got to the loose ball and delivered a strike home in an attempt to gun down Chas McCormick trying to score, but the ball got away from Joey Bart at the plate, allowing Alvarez to move into third:  

Cruz's miscues resulted in two errors and cost the Pirates two runs in the third inning of their 5-4 loss to the Astros. They were part of a three-error night for Cruz, who added an errant throw that led to another run scoring in the bottom of the second.

"It looked like he was trying to go a little bit too fast today," Derek Shelton said. "Sometimes that happens with young players. He was trying to create a little bit too much. I was proud of him because he had a couple of tough backhand plays he stayed with (late in the game), he just had a couple of tough innings.” 

This was an example of one of those aforementioned tough backhand plays Cruz made in the fifth inning: 

He fielded it cleanly and knew he had to get a quick throw off, so he delivered one on time with plenty of arm strength. Those are the types of plays Cruz is capable of making on a regular basis. Yet, he still finds himself struggling at times in the field. On the first ground ball Cruz made an error on Wednesday night, Shelton noticed he didn't get his feet underneath him and just went too fast, even though he had more time than he thought:

On the pop up, however, his aggressiveness backfired on a ball Reynolds likely would have brought in had Cruz backed off.

“That’s Bryan’s ball," Shelton said. "He went a long way and then, I think after the ball kicked off and caromed, he just made an inadvertent throw. Hold the throw, you don’t need to throw the ball. I think he was just working too fast today.” 

It wasn't a series to remember from a defensive standpoint for Cruz, who is now tied with Elly De La Cruz for the league lead with 20 errors. His dreadful three-error showing followed up two games in which he committed a blunder. Cruz added a fielding error in the eighth inning of Monday's game against the Astros and then, after making a running play to collect a ground ball up the middle in the sixth on Tuesday, he committed another throwing error that bounced in the dirt before skipping away and allowing a baserunner to take an extra base. Later in that same game, he made another mistake when he fielded a routine ground ball off the bat of McCormick. Rather than making a quick throw, he double clutched it and allowed McCormick to reach in the ninth: 

Speaking to this particular performance, Cruz said it was simply one of those days where he was trying to do a little too much to try to help the team. He acknowledged that days like that will happen, but it's vital that he learns from the mistakes, especially during this recent stretch in which he's committed eight errors in 10 games dating back to the final game of the Phillies series at PNC Park on July 21.

"Definitely as a player, you don't want to have days like that," Cruz said via interpreter and major-league coach Stephen Morales. "But it happens. It happens to every player out there. The good thing is I'm going to look back on those errors and learn from it for sure and get better.

"There's many things to take away from this defensively and offensively. It's just a matter of continuing to work hard and move forward."

Cruz's lackluster performance wasn't limited to the field. He also went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts to finish the Houston series with just one hit -- a game-tying double in Monday's win -- in 13 at-bats. He struck out nine times against Astros pitchers after thriving with hits in all three games and hitting two homers against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. 

Due in part to what he's capable of at the plate, Shelton said he never considered lifting Cruz after the errors. Instead, he preferred to let him overcome the adversity himself. 

“It’s a major-league player that's got to get through it," Shelton said. "Again, defensively, he had a couple of tough innings and he came back and made a couple of tough plays on the backhands later in the game.

"We just have to slow him back down.”