Don Kelly doesn't subscribe to the notion that participating in the Home Run Derby can mess with a player's swing. In fact, he thinks Oneil Cruz's involvement this year might help.

"Oneil practiced a little bit going into the break, and it seemed to free him up a little bit, to be more athletic and to be himself in the box," Kelly said before tonight's game against the White Sox. "I don’t buy into the (theory) that sometimes (the swing) can be a little more loopy. I felt like it made him better. I think it made him more like himself toward the end of the first half.”

Cruz appeared more aggressive in the his first two at-batsf tonight. He used some ambush tactics against Chicago starter Jonathan Cannon, swinging at the first pitches he saw for two singles, including one that drove in the team's lone run in the fourth inning of a 10-1 loss.

"Even in his third at-bat, he fouled a ball off that I thought was maybe his best swing of the night," Kelly said postgame. "I think it was the first pitch there as well. He was just finding a way. He's doing some really good things, he just needs to continue on that track."