Photo provided by Matt Lynch
A pair of Pittsburgh Pirates players started for their respective teams in a matchup between the Dominican Republic and Israel in the World Baseball Classic on Monday afternoon
Oneil Cruz started in center field and hit seventh for the D.R. while Spencer Horwitz led off as Israel’s designated hitter. Each player made an impact in the fourth inning with home runs — Cruz in the top of the frame and Horwitz to lead off the bottom of the inning.
Cruz’s second home run of the tournament in as many games — and at-bats — was a 400-foot laser to right-center field that registered an exit velocity of 115.8 mph. Cruz blasted a three-run home run for the Dominican Republic in their 12-3 win over Nicaragua on Friday night.
Cruz, who walked in his first plate appearance on Monday afternoon, has reached base safely in all three of his trips to the plate to start the tournament.
Horwitz followed his teammate in the home-half of the inning with a solo shot of his own to right field off Boston Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello. For Horwitz, his 390-foot homer to right-center was his first of the WBC and improve hit batting average to .333 with a 1.122 OPS.
*At the time this story was published the Dominican Republic (2-0) was leading Israel (1-1) by a score of 6-1.
Mentioned in this article: Oneil Cruz Pittsburgh Pirates Spencer Horwitz World Baseball Classic
More about:Pirates