Paul Skenes was removed early from his Opening Day start for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, and the play of Oneil Cruz in center field is a big reason why.
Cruz misplayed consecutive balls in center field in the first inning of the Pirates’ game against the New York Mets at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. The first blunder came with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the first inning. Cruz ran in on a ball hit by Brent Baty to center field. The ball ended up sailing over Cruz’s head to clear the bases for a 3-run triple to give the Mets the lead.
The second mistake came when the next batter, Marcus Semien, hit a routine fly ball to center. Cruz lost the ball in the sun, and it fell for what turned into a run-scoring double.
Oneil Cruz with two of the worst center field plays you'll see in a big league game
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 26, 2026
…in the first inning of the first game of the year pic.twitter.com/kaBWNd58a3
The mistakes helped give the Mets four runs and made the score 5-2. Had Cruz made both plays, Skenes’ strikeout of Carson Benge would have ended the inning. Instead, the strikeout made it two outs, and Skenes was removed after hitting catcher Francisco Alvarez with a pitch.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen some poor fielding from Cruz in center.
