Pittsburgh Pirates star Oneil Cruz has gone through a rough few games. Cruz鈥檚 error and lackadaisical effort following a passed ball in center field raised eyebrows last week, and then, on Tuesday, he was removed from the game after he lost track of outs. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Pirates manager Don Kelly took Cruz out after he failed to run out a double-play grounder against the Milwaukee Brewers. He grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Kelly said Cruz was removed because of “energy and effort going down the line.” Cruz told reporters through an interpreter he understood the decision. “DK had all the rights to do what he did, and I鈥檒l back him up on that,” Cruz said. “It was my fault because I thought there were two outs in that situation. That鈥檚 why I let off running to first base.” Kelly said he and Cruz spoke afterward, and he communicated his expectations. Cruz suffered an outfield blunder against the Texas Rangers. He misjudged a ball and watched it roll to the fence in the first inning of that game. FORMER ALL-STAR RHP NOAH SYNDERGAARD SIGNS MINOR-LEAGUE DEAL WITH WHITE SOX On top of everything else, Cruz is not hitting like the slugger he has been promised to be. He has batted .156 with 31 strikeouts this month. Overall, he is hitting .211 with an OPS of .736 and 13 home runs. He is leading the National League with 26 stolen bases but leads MLB with 101 strikeouts. “He鈥檚 struggling at the plate right now,” Kelly said. “It鈥檚 difficult when you鈥檙e going through that and trying to figure it out. He鈥檚 working hard to do that. That鈥檚 one thing we鈥檝e got to be mindful of, is not letting that offense carry over to defense and base running, and the energy and effort that we鈥檙e giving on any other aspects of the game as well.” Cruz maintained that his issue on the basepaths had nothing to do with his slump at the plate. “They鈥檙e a really good example,” Cruz said. “They always run hard. They always go out there to do their 100%. That鈥檚 a teaching point for me. I accepted the way DK came to me and explained it and presented it to me.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Pittsburgh fell to 32-48 this season after losing 9-3 to the Brewers. The Pirates are 20-22 since Kelly took over for Derek Shelton as manager. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Fox News Digital鈥檚 sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.