{"id":262864,"date":"2026-04-23T15:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/262864\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:24:13","slug":"cruz-gets-his-homer-in-victory-over-texas-news-sports-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/262864\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz gets his homer in victory over Texas | News, Sports, Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\t\t\t\tPittsburgh Pirates\u2019 Oneil Cruz (15) celebrates his three-run home run as he rounds first past Texas Rangers\u2019 Jake Burger, rear, in the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez)<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tPittsburgh Pirates\u2019 Oneil Cruz (15) celebrates after hitting a three-run home run in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez)<\/p>\n

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Pittsburgh Pirates’ Oneil Cruz (15) celebrates his three-run home run as he rounds first past Texas Rangers’ Jake Burger, rear, in the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez)<\/p>\n

ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 Oneil Cruz had the hardest-hit homer in the majors this season, a three-run shot off the top of the right-field foul pole in the ninth inning that powered the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

The Pirates took a 5-4 lead in the ninth when Nick Gonzales broke for the plate on pinch-hitter Jake Mangum\u2019s one-out chopper to third base off Cole Winn (1-1). Josh Jung\u2019s throw home pulled catcher Kyle Higashioka into foul territory, and Higashioka could not make the tag.<\/p>\n

Cruz followed with his 116.9 mph liner that bounced off the top of the foul pole and into the stands. It was the second hardest-hit ball in the history of Globe Life Field, which opened in 2020.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s big ninth gave Gregory Soto (1-0) his first win as a Pirate, following his first blown save. The lefty reliever allowed Jake Burger\u2019s two-run single in the eighth that tied the score at 4-all. Dennis Santana pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in four opportunities.<\/p>\n

Bryan Reynolds\u2019 fifth-inning single, which produced his 500th career RBI, was part of a three-run frame that gave the Pirates a 4-2 lead. Reynolds is tied with Bobby Bonilla for the most RBIs by a Pirates switch-hitter. He also scored Pittsburgh\u2019s first run on Marcell Ozuna\u2019s first-inning double.<\/p>\n

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Pittsburgh Pirates’ Oneil Cruz (15) celebrates after hitting a three-run home run in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez)<\/p>\n

Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft set career highs with seven innings and 94 pitches, allowing Jung\u2019s two-run homer in the second inning among four hits. Ashcraft grew up about 100 miles south of Globe Life Field near Waco.<\/p>\n

Jung has an RBI in a career-best six consecutive games.<\/p>\n

Texas starter Jack Leiter, who turned 26 on Tuesday, allowed four runs, three earned, in five innings. He hasn\u2019t won since his first start this season, at Baltimore on March 30.<\/p>\n

With a single and a walk, Pittsburgh\u2019s Ryan O\u2019Hearn has reached base in 20 of 22 games.<\/p>\n

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Penn State Altoona men\u2019s tennis was well-represented on the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Pirates\u2019 Oneil Cruz (15) celebrates his three-run home run as he rounds first past Texas Rangers\u2019 Jake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-262864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}