May 2, 2026Updated 9:16 am EDT
Oneil Cruz and Elly De La Cruz square off in a battle between top-10 power hitters when the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds meet on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. ET. Cruz has nine homers (10th in league) for the Pirates, and De La Cruz ranks sixth with 10 long balls for the Reds. Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2, 4.13 ERA) will start for the Pirates, who are 17-16 this season and fifth in the NL Central. Rhett Lowder (3-1, 3.18 ERA) is expected to start for the Reds, who are 20-12 and second in the NL Central.
How to watch Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh PiratesReds vs. Pirates odds
Injury reportsPirates
Jared Triolo: 10 Day IL (Knee), Jared Jones: 60 Day IL (Elbow)
Reds
Eugenio Suárez: 10 Day IL (Oblique), Caleb Ferguson: 15 Day IL (Oblique), Brandon Williamson: 15 Day IL (Shoulder), Nick Lodolo: 15 Day IL (Finger), Hunter Greene: 60 Day IL (Elbow)
Stats to know
Pittsburgh’s Ryan O’Hearn is slashing .310/.394/.478 this season with five home runs, 21 RBIs and an OPS of .872. He has a 17.4% strikeout rate and an 11.4% walk rate in 132 plate appearances, and he has scored 17 total runs.
In 142 plate appearances, Cruz has hit nine long balls (10th in MLB), tallied 26 RBIs (5th in MLB) and scored 23 runs (16th in MLB). He is batting .254/.317/.508 and has posted a 35.9% strikeout rate and a 7.7% walk rate. Cruz has recorded 10 steals on 12 attempts (5th in MLB).
Sal Stewart has hit nine home runs this season, which ranks 10th in MLB. He has also tallied 28 RBIs (3rd in MLB) and has scored 20 runs. In 138 plate appearances, he has recorded a .271 BA, .362 OBP and .551 SLG with a 13% walk rate and a 17.4% strikeout rate. He has been effective on the base paths, recording seven steals on seven attempts.
In 142 plate appearances, De La Cruz has hit 10 long balls (6th in MLB), tallied 25 RBIs (11th in MLB) and scored 26 runs (9th in MLB). He is batting .273/.345/.547 and has posted a 28.9% strikeout rate and a 9.9% walk rate. De La Cruz has recorded eight steals on 11 attempts (10th in MLB).
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Photo: Jamie Squire, Ishika Samant, Scott Taetsch, Alika Jenner / Getty Images
May 2, 2026
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