Pittsburgh Pirates pinch hitter Jake Mangum didn’t deliver the go-ahead run with a heroic hit that sent the baseball screaming into the outfield. He left that honor to Oneil Cruz.
Instead, Mangum’s at-bat saw him shorten his swing and hit a high bouncing ball that allowed Nick Gonzales to beat a throw from Josh Jung to score the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday at Globe Life Field.
Cruz followed with a three-run, 422-foot blast that clipped the top of the foul ball on its way into the right-field stands, and the Pirates shook free from a late Texas rally to collect an 8-4 win.
Oneil Cruz homered OFF THE TOP OF THE FOUL POLE ???? pic.twitter.com/fRVpjZ7fcF
— MLB (@MLB) April 23, 2026
Cruz said he wasn’t sure if the hit was going to be fair or foul.
“I was talking to (Marcell) Ozuna the whole game, and that specific moment Ozuna said was the biggest at-bat of the game,” Cruz said through a translator during the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “I told Ozuna I was going to hit a home run there.”
The home run was Cruz’s seventh of the season.
Pirates manager Don Kelly said he hadn’t seen too many home runs hit that hard. He said he may have seen Ozuna hit one like that in Miami about a decade ago.
“That ball was killed,” Kelly said. “To hit a ball like that off the top of the foul pole, that is unbelievable.”
It was a former member of the Pirates family who nearly threw cold water on their evening. Andrew McCutchen snapped an 0-for-15 hitless streak with a pinch-hit single off relief pitcher Gregory Soto to open the eighth inning.
McCutchen moved to third on a double by Brandon Nimmo. Jake Burger then smashed a single to center, scoring both runners and tying the score 4-4.
Soto was the winning pitcher for the Pirates despite allowing two earned runs and allowing three hits in an inning of work. He struck out three.
The Rangers’ rally spoiled an opportunity for Pirates starting pitcher Braxton Ashcraft to get a decision. Ashcraft had a sizable contingent of friends and family make the 100-mile trip from his hometown of Robinson, Texas, to see him play.
Ashcraft said he had 30 people on his pass list, but he’s not sure how many people came out to see him play.
“When the rotation came and I figured out I was going to be throwing, there was a little bit of excitement there, but I still had a job,” Ashcraft said. “It was great to have all the people I grew up around and with in the stands, but it’s great to get a team win here and have a chance to win the series here.”
Ashcraft scattered four hits over seven innings of work and struck out five.
“To have the stuff he had, it was a gutsy performance by Braxton for so many reasons,” Kelly said. “For him to be able to give that performance tonight for them and his family was cool.”
Ashcraft made sure his family and friends had some anxiety. Texas’ first three batters reached in the second inning.
Joc Pederson walked and then scored when Jung followed with a home run to right field. Evan Carter punched a single into center field before Ashcraft found his bearings. He forced Kyle Higashioka to fly out to center, Josh Smith to foul out to third and Ezequeil Duran to fly out to second to escape the inning trailing 2-1.
The Pirates opened the scoring in the first when Ozuna drove in Bryan Reynolds with a single. Reynolds got on base with a two-out double.
The Pirates (14-10) took their first lead in the top of the fifth inning. Brandon Lowe connected on a two-out single to left, which scored Spencer Horwitz to tie the score.
Reynolds followed with a single that allowed Henry Davis and Lowe to score on errors.
Cole Winn was the losing pitcher for Texas (12-12). He was responsible for three earned runs in one-third of an inning.
“I’m really proud of the way we responded today and early on this season,” Kelly said. “Within games, we’ve been able to bounce back quickly and pick each other up.”