{"id":664726,"date":"2026-04-05T14:45:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/664726\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:45:16","slug":"slumping-pirates-dh-marcell-ozuna-hopes-he-found-a-spark-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/664726\/","title":{"rendered":"Slumping Pirates DH Marcell Ozuna Hopes He Found a Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH — Marcell Ozuna searched for any sign of hope to end his early-season slump. The Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> designated hitter may have found it\u2014a simple dribbler in front of home plate.<\/p>\n

Ozuna\u2019s mishit was just his second hit in 27 at-bats, helping the Pirates rally for a 3-2 victory over the Orioles on Saturday at PNC Park.<\/p>\n

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Ozuna\u2019s hit led off the eighth inning, leading to pinch-hitter Jake Mangum tying the score at 2-all with an RBI infield single. Nick Yorke walked it off with a double in the ninth.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh signed Ozuna to a one-year, $12-million contract just before the start of spring training with the idea that he would provide power to an offense that was last in the major leagues in home runs and runs scored last year. Instead, he is hitting .074 with no extra-base hits.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how it is in baseball,\u201d Ozuna said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard, so you just have to go out there and have fun. It\u2019s been tough right now. I\u2019m trying not to do more than I can do, so I don\u2019t overdo it. After getting that hit in the last at-bat, I think everything is going right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

A dink hit has sparked Ozuna before. In 2023, after starting 4-for-63 with the Atlanta Braves, he hit a single off Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara that barely snuck through the infield.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter that, I was a different man,\u201d Ozuna said.<\/p>\n

Ozuna went on to hit .274\/.346\/.558 with 40 home runs and 100 RBIs.<\/p>\n

Through the first two home games, Ozuna has been booed by fans. In his 14th season, he understands their frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not my first time being in that moment,\u201d Ozuna said. \u201cI deserve to be booed. I don\u2019t mind. I\u2019m going to keep grinding and do my best. As soon as I get the knocks, everything is going well now. I have the confidence, my teammates trust me, and most of the fans trust me. They booed me because they needed to see my show. So, I have to give my show. This is the time, right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pirates manager Don Kelly, a former Marlins teammate of Ozuna\u2019s, was impressed Ozuna went to the batting cage after Friday\u2019s win\u2014the first time Ozuna has taken postgame batting practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s in-between right now, it looks like,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWe need to get him rolling. You have a guy who cares so much and wants to get on track. He\u2019s a veteran. He knows what he needs to do. Have full confidence that he\u2019s going to get rolling here soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirates Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We\u2019d love to have you join us to talk all things Pirates. Click the \u201cJoin\u201d button at the top of the page to join our community for free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH — Marcell Ozuna searched for any sign of hope to end his early-season slump. The Pittsburgh Pirates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2402],"tags":[46,5,6452,407,78,58,4,10,776,64,4297,3480],"class_list":{"0":"post-664726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-pirates","8":"tag-atlanta-braves","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-don-kelly","11":"tag-jake-mangum","12":"tag-marcell-ozuna","13":"tag-miami-marlins","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-pirates","16":"tag-pittsburgh","17":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","18":"tag-pittsburghpirates","19":"tag-sandy-alcantara"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116352642131614876","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}