Pittsburgh Steelers rookies attended the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game Monday night at PNC Park.
Rookies repping at the @Pirates game. 🙌#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/ho1j7aP6xx
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) June 21, 2022
Smiling in home Pirates jerseys in their section, the rookies saw the Pirates demolish the Chicago Cubs, 12-1.
The win also featured Pirates rookies who made some great plays throughout the win. Shortstop Oneil Cruz made his highly anticipated season debut and threw the fastest ball in the infield in the MLB this season to get the out at first on a ground ball.
So: ONeil Cruz has been back up for about 25 minutes. He's already got the hardest tracked throw by an infielder of the season (96.7). I think that's going to work. pic.twitter.com/0vOCbs6BVo
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) June 21, 2022
Cruz finished with two hits, with his most impressive at-bat coming after he hit a sharp ball to center, clearing the bases, but tagged out at third base. They scored the play as a double, so he still got a hit on the play.
3 innings into his 2022 debut, @Pirates' Oneil Cruz has registered:
🏴☠️The hardest throw by an infielder in @MLB this year (96.7 mph)
🏴☠️The hardest hit ball of the year by a Pirate (112.9)
🏴☠️The 3 fastest sprint speeds of the year by a Pirate (31.5, 30.7, 30.3) pic.twitter.com/nScTK5mD4A— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 21, 2022
Outfielder Bligh Madris made his debut for the Pirates Monday night as well, also becoming the first player of Palauan descent to play in the MLB. Madris hit three times against the Cubs, with his first career hit driving in two runs to start the scoring.
Our guy Bligh with his first Major League hit! pic.twitter.com/LoHcefsmwL
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 20, 2022
Madris also made a fantastic diving catch in right field near foul territory as well to cap off a fantastic debut.
The Bligh Slide pic.twitter.com/cByZpYM4eS
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 21, 2022
Steelers fans hope that the great play of the Pirates rookies tonight inspires the Steelers rookies to do the same once September rolls around.