Pirates' Kelly: Cruz benched due to 'energy and effort' on double play

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly said outfielder Oneil Cruz was removed from Tuesday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers due to a lack of effort after grounding into a double play in his final at-bat in the seventh inning.

(Video source: MLB.com)

"Just the energy and effort going down the line," Kelly said postgame following the 9-3 loss, according to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I think we were pretty clear the other day, and he knows the expectation going forward. We talked, but he knows the expectation. Right there, I feel like we fell a little short."

Kelly also didn't specify if Cruz would be in the lineup for Wednesday's game, per Hiles.

Meanwhile, Cruz said he slowed down on the play because he thought there were two outs.

The 26-year-old added he will treat the benching as a learning experience.

"I accepted it really well, just because we have two guys here, (Andrew) McCutchen and Tommy Pham, who are really good examples," Cruz said. "They always run hard. They always go out there and give 100%. This is a teaching point for me, and I accept the way DK came to me and explained and presented it to me."

The incident with Cruz comes four days after a brutal defensive error versus the Texas Rangers when he badly misplayed the ball on a routine play.

"He's struggling at the plate right now, and it's difficult when you're going through that and you're trying to figure it out," Kelly said. "He's working hard to do that. That's the one thing we have to be mindful of, not letting that offense carry over to defense, baserunning, and the energy and effort that we're giving in the other aspects of the game as well."