Pirates' Oneil Cruz opens up about nightmare performance in Opening Day loss to Mets

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz had a first inning to forget in what became his club's 11-7 Opening Day loss at the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon, as he was guilty of two brutal misplays that helped the Mets put five runs on the scoreboard as they chased ace Paul Skenes out of the game before he recorded three outs. 

Following the defeat, Cruz discussed all that went wrong for him during that frame. 

Oneil Cruz discusses first mistake versus Mets

With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Mets designated hitter Brett Baty hit a fly ball to centerfield toward Cruz. Cruz seemed to misread the trajectory of the ball before it sailed over his head for a bases-clearing triple.

"Just the sun was right in front of my face," Cruz said through a team interpreter, per Phillip Martinez of SNY. "You don’t want those things to happen, but it was really uncomfortable today to have the sun right in front of my face. I tried my best, but it was kinda tough."

Baty admitted he "was hoping it was going to be a sac fly" once the ball left his bat, but Cruz instead gifted the Mets with an opportunity to continue their rally after Pittsburgh ended the top of the first with a 2-0 lead. 

What went wrong for Oneil Cruz during the next at-bat?

The next at-bat, Mets second baseman Marcus Semien hit a ball toward Cruz that should have been caught for an easy out. Cruz tried to use his glove to shield his eyes, but the ball ultimately fell harmlessly to his left before Baty jogged home for the Mets' fifth run of the inning. 

"Not really the first one," Cruz said about how the sun impacted him on the two plays. "The second one for sure. The first one was one of those low line drives, and it takes a little more time for me to read it. It was a tough ball to read because you don’t know if you got to come in or go back. It got the sun a little bit at the end, but it’s something I have to get better at. I’ll get better at it for sure."

Cruz will have some extra time to think about those moments, as the two clubs are off Friday before they resume their three-game series on Saturday.