Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz has earned a reputation for making extremely hard contact in his brief career, and that skill was on full display Tuesday.
Cruz had three hits in Pittsburgh's 7-6 win over the San Francisco Giants, including a pair with an exit velocity of at least 120 mph. He's the first player with two hits of at least 120 mph in the same game since Statcast started tracking that data in 2015, per MLB.com's Sarah Langs.
Oneil Cruz has the THREE hardest-hit balls of the night!
— MLB (@MLB) May 22, 2024
Two of them are the hardest-hit of the SEASON. pic.twitter.com/Oh5q3ZPoHL
Cruz rifled a 120.4 mph single in the first inning, a 116.3 mph double in the third inning, and a game-tying 121.5 mph double off Giants closer Camilo Doval in the ninth inning.
"I was swinging pissed off," Cruz said postgame, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Cruz is in the 99th percentile among all hitters this season, with a 95.1 mph average exit velocity. He's also in the 100th percentile in bat speed.
