Cruz Homers in Return From Injury, Ashcraft Gives Pirates Another Gem in 4-1 Win Over Tigers

Oneil Cruz needed only two at-bats to show he was back. Returning from two months on the injured list, the Pirates center fielder hit a two-run homer that lifted Pittsburgh to a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night at PNC Park. The crowd was 20,222, and the game lasted 2 hours, 2 minutes, the shortest of the Pirates' season.

Manager Don Kelly had cautioned beforehand that Cruz might need time to regain the form he had before suffering non-displaced fractures in the fourth and fifth metacarpals of his left hand. Cruz was hurt June 6 at Atlanta, when Braves catcher Austin Wynns tagged his left hand as he slid into home plate. He had been on the 60-day injured list, retroactive to June 8. Before the injury, the 6-foot-7 outfielder was hitting .264/.350/.472 with 10 doubles, 14 home runs, 44 RBIs and 21 stolen bases in 64 games.

Detroit took a 1-0 lead with two outs in the fifth inning, when Brett Callahan, promoted Saturday, drove an 0-1 fastball from Braxton Ashcraft 393 feet to right field for his first major-league home run. Tigers starter Keider Montero had retired the first four Pirates batters in order.

Pittsburgh answered right away. Esmerlyn Valdez opened the bottom of the fifth with a four-pitch walk, and Cruz then hit a 2-2 knuckle curve from Montero 422 feet to center for his 15th homer and a 2-1 lead. It was his first home run since June 2 at Houston and the Pirates' 81st at PNC Park this season, tying a single-season record set in 2003. "It felt good, definitely. I made good contact, hit that ball out front," Cruz said through team coach and translator Stephen Morales.

The inning continued with Jake Mangum's infield single and a book-rule double by Rafael Flores Jr. Mangum was initially ruled out at the plate on Jared Triolo's grounder, but the call was reversed after video review showed he never touched the plate and Detroit's Eduardo Valencia had dropped the ball before retrieving it. Spencer Horwitz then singled in Flores for a 3-1 lead. Bryan Reynolds added an RBI single in the eighth to make it 4-1.

Ashcraft (13-5) followed his 10-strikeout, 85-pitch complete game in a 13-1 win at Miami last Thursday with another strong outing. Over eight innings he allowed one run on five hits, struck out four and walked none, throwing 61 of 80 pitches for strikes. He retired the first 10 batters he faced and escaped his only real trouble when Valencia grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. He is the first Pirates pitcher since A.J. Burnett in 2012 to follow a complete game with an eight-inning start.

"He can change the game with one swing, one at-bat," Ashcraft said of Cruz. Flores described the right-hander as "electric." Kelly praised his ability to keep the ball down, induce weak contact and throw everything for strikes.

Kelly chose to send left-hander Mason Montgomery out for the ninth rather than Ashcraft, a decision he called "ridiculous" given how well Ashcraft was pitching, though one he said was meant to manage workload. After a throwing error by second baseman Brandon Lowe put a runner on, Montgomery struck out Dillon Dingler, fanned Valencia on a 100.4-mph fastball and got Hao-Yu Lee to ground out for his fifth save.