Cruz's aggressive approach provides comfort against familiar lefty

Oneil Cruz hasn't exactly established himself as an imposing force against left-handed pitchers this season. The splits tell the whole story. He's batting a respectable .279 against right-handed pitchers, but his .135 mark and 36% strikeout rate strike little fear in opposing arms dealing from the left side. 

Nonetheless, when Cruz stepped to the plate with the game-winning run on second base and Cardinals lefty JoJo Romero on the mound Wednesday night, he had an idea of how he wanted to approach things. He faced Romero in the eighth inning of Tuesday's game and saw five sliders from him, including one that landed just beyond the outer part of the plate that Cruz sent into right field for an inning-ending flyout. 

This time around, he had his sights set on being more aggressive.

"I went up with my plan," Cruz said via interpreter and major-league coach Stephen Morales, "and swung at the first pitch." 

Cruz, who admitted he's been feeling a lot better against left-handed pitchers lately, delivered with his aggressive approach, as he sent a first-pitch slider on the outer edge into right field for a game-winning single in the Pirates' 5-4 extra-inning victory over the Cardinals at PNC Park: 

“I’ll take it, if we can get him in those situations," Derek Shelton said. "I was just happy he was ready. I think the fact that he saw JoJo last night may have helped that. We got into a situation where he’d seen a guy and took a really good swing.”

The Cardinals made the move to replace right-hander Andrew Kittredge with Romero prior to Bryan Reynolds' at-bat, which followed a one-out walk to Andrew McCutchen that put a pair of runners on. Reynolds, a consistent switch hitter who has found success against both righties and lefties, tied the game with an RBI single before Romero prepared to go after the man he was specifically called upon to face. 

"It doesn't matter who comes in. My gameplan doesn't change," said Cruz, who entered Wednesday with just one hit -- a home run -- in four career at-bats against Romero. "I'm just going up there to look for a pitch in the strike zone and put a good swing on it." 

In coming through when the Pirates needed him most, Cruz delivered with his third career walkoff hit and second of the season. As evidenced by his two-hit night, which included him going the opposite way for a one-out double in the eighth inning, he's shone brightest when playing in front of the home crowd this season, slashing .267/.344/.519 with an .863 OPS compared to his .216/.248/.346 line that accompanies his .594 OPS on the road. 

Cruz has had some rough stretches throughout the year, including a month of April in which he hit just .222 with 39 strikeouts in 99 at-bats. But he's also put forth some really encouraging performances like this one to show just how special -- and clutch -- of a player he's capable of being on a consistent basis. 

"It felt good, for sure, but it was a team effort," Cruz said. "Everybody played their part in it and that's why we came back at the end and could win that game."