Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Pirates star shortstop will miss four months after home plate collision

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 4/10/23

It was a 1-0 ballgame in the bottom of the sixth inning on Sunday with the Pittsburgh Pirates barely holding onto a lead over the Chicago White Sox. The Pirates did have the lead, though, and they also had runners on the corners with no outs.

That's an advantageous situation for any offense, but what started off as a potentially exciting inning ended in disaster for Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz. He suffered a collision at home plate that ultimately fractured his lower left leg, put him into surgery, and will steal four months of his 2023 season, per ESPN.

Here's the play where Cruz got hurt:

Classic hold me back, no punches thrown baseball incident. Hope Oneil Cruz is okay, though. Looked to be in a lot of pain. Need the exit velo king in good health. pic.twitter.com/NVSkJMZ95r
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) April 9, 2023

As you'll see, Cruz took off on a short chopper directly to White Sox third baseman Yoán Moncada, who threw Cruz out at the plate thanks to catcher Seby Zavala reaching out and grabbing the high throw and then holding on through the heavy contact. That play led to a benches-clearing brawl, but for what it's worth, it doesn't look like Zavala caused Cruz's injury. Rather, it appears that Cruz sliding directly into the catcher may have been what ended up hurting his leg.

Per ESPN, the benches cleared after Pittsburgh's Carlos Santana, who was on deck, took exception when Zavala told him that he didn't appreciate how late Cruz decided to slide on the play.

Cruz underwent procedures to stabilize the fractured fibula in his left leg. He also suffered ligament damage to his left ankle in the collision, and that was addressed by doctors as well.

Cruz has one home run, four RBI and an OPS of .750 so far this season.

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