Ozuna went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Friday's 5-2 loss to the Giants.
Ozuna has gone 9-for-27 (.333) with two homers, six RBI and a 4:5 BB:K over his last seven games. The slugger is still digging his way out of a cold start to the season, but he's had fairly steady playing time at designated hitter to do that. He's batting .198 with a .593 OPS, four homers, 14 RBI, 11 runs scored and three doubles across 32 contests this year.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Riding pine Thursday
Rotowire
Ozuna isn't in the lineup for Thursday's game against Arizona.
Ozuna will get a breather after making five consecutive starts, during which he went 6-for-19 with a homer, five RBI and four runs scored. Oneil Cruz will serve as Pittsburgh's designated hitter in Ozuna's place, opening up center field for Jake Mangum.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Piles up production Saturday
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Ozuna went 3-for-5 with a walk, two doubles, three runs scored and three RBI in Saturday's 17-7 rout of the Reds.
The six combined runs and RBI were a season high for the veteran DH, while the multi-hit performance was Ozuna's first since April 18. It's been a tough start to his first campaign with Pittsburgh, and even after Saturday's effort he's slashing .185/..254/.306 with three homers and 13 RBI in 28 games.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Blasts third homer
Rotowire
Ozuna went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run and a walk Friday against the Reds.
Ozuna went yard in the fifth inning to record his third home run of the season and first since April 18 -- a span of 10 games and eight starts. He continues to hit poorly to begin the year, as he's batting just .118 with a 32.4 percent strikeout rate in his last 10 contests. Ozuna remains Pittsburgh's primary designated hitter, but he has been out of the lineup for three of the team's last seven games and could continue to see his playing time slip.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Absent from lineup
Rotowire
Ozuna is not in the lineup for Thursday's contest versus the Cardinals.
Ozuna is slumping again after a brief hot streak, having gone just 3-for-30 with a 1:11 BB:K over his last nine games. As a result, he has now been absent from the lineup three times in the last six contests. Ryan O'Hearn will get a start at designated hitter Thursday.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Beginning on bench Saturday
Rotowire
Ozuna isn't in the Pirates' starting lineup Saturday versus Milwaukee.
Ozuna will take a seat after starting each of Pittsburgh's previous 10 games and batting .262 with two home runs and eight RBI over that span. The veteran slugger's bat may be beginning to perk up, but he still has a poor .487 OPS and 26.1 strikeout rate through 21 games on the campaign. Ryan O'Hearn is getting a day off his feet as the DH in Ozuna's stead Saturday.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Homers again Saturday
Rotowire
Ozuna went 2-for-6 with a two-run home run in Saturday's 8-7 extra-innings loss to the Rays.
After batting an abysmal .051 through the Pirates' first 14 games, Ozuna has now hit safely in six straight appearances and has two homers over the last three contests. The 35-year-old might be finding his swing and has boosted his slash line to .185/.254/.292 with two homers, seven RBI, six runs scored and a 6:16 BB:K across 71 plate appearances.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Slaps three-run homer in loss
Rotowire
Ozuna went 1-for-4 with a walk and a three-run home run during Thursday's 8-7 loss to the Nationals.
Ozuna has been mired in a big slump to start the season, but he seems to be shaking that off and heating up as of late. The 35-year-old crushed his first home run of the season Thursday, a three-run homer in the fifth that allowed the Pirates to match a four-run inning by the Nationals with one of their own. After having just two hits in the first 10 games, the 14-year veteran has five hits as part of a four-game hit streak.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Small signs of improvement
Rotowire
Ozuna went 1-for-4 with an RBI on Wednesday against the Nationals.
Ozuna drove in one of Pittsburgh's two runs with a single in the first inning. That extended his hitting streak to three games and continued some needed improvement, as he had only two hits across his first 39 at-bats of the year. During his modest three-game hit streak, Ozuna has one double, two RBI and a run scored.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Sliding back to bench Monday
Rotowire
Ozuna is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Nationals.
After a recent two-game benching, Ozuna returned to the starting nine for all three contests of the Pirates' series versus the Cubs over the weekend but went just 1-for-12 with a walk and four strikeouts. Now sitting on a lowly .070/.167/.070 slash line over 48 plate appearances on the season, Ozuna could be in line for a part-time role at designated hitter until he turns a corner at the dish.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: On bench again Wednesday
Rotowire
Ozuna is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Padres.
For the third time in four games, Ozuna will hit the bench after getting off to a porous start to the season. Over 35 plate appearances, the veteran slugger is slashing just .065/.171/.065. Ozuna is still walking at a 11.4 percent clip, and his strikeout rate sits at a manageable 22.9 percent, so he'll have some hope for a turnaround if he can benefit from some better luck on balls in play.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: On bench again Tuesday
Rotowire
Ozuna is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Padres.
Ozuna went 0-for-4 in Monday's series opener, dropping his season slash line down to .065/.171/.065 through 35 plate appearances. Brandon Lowe is resting his legs as the designated hitter Tuesday, opening up second base for Nick Gonzales.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Sitting amid slump
Rotowire
Ozuna is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Orioles
Ozuna went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in Saturday's contest to break a four-game hitless streak, but he'll take a seat for Sunday's series finale versus Baltimore. Bryan Reynolds will rest his legs as the designated hitter, opening up a spot in the outfield for Jake Mangum.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Receiving breather Sunday
Rotowire
Ozuna is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Mets.
The veteran slugger will receive the afternoon off after he started the Pirates' first two games of the season and went 1-for-9 with a walk. With Ozuna on the bench, Bryan Reynolds will cede left field to Jake Mangum and shift to designated hitter.
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Pirates' Marcell Ozuna: Lands $12 million deal with Pirates
Rotowire
The Pirates signed Ozuna to a one-year, $10.5 million contract Monday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports. The deal includes a $16 million mutual option or $1.5 million buyout for 2027.
Ozuna produced a disappointing .232/.355/.400 batting line with 21 home runs over 145 games for Atlanta in 2025. However, a nagging hip injury was likely at least partly to blame, and he is just a year removed from a 39-homer season. Ozuna will slide into the designated hitter role in Pittsburgh, likely pushing Ryan O'Hearn to left field and Jake Mangum to a fourth outfielder role.
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Braves' Marcell Ozuna: Homers Wednesday
Rotowire
Ozuna went 1-for-2 with a solo home run and a pair of walks in Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Nationals.
Ozuna cut Atlanta's deficit to 4-2 in the eighth inning with a 404-foot blast off Jackson Rutledge. It was Ozuna's 21st homer of the year and his first in 33 games. It's been a disappointing year overall for the 34-year-old Ozuna, though he's swung the bat better of late, going 13-for-42 (.310) with an .884 OPS in his last 12 contests.
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Braves' Marcell Ozuna: Resting Saturday
Rotowire
Ozuna isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against Detroit.
Ozuna will retreat to the dugout Saturday after going 0-for-4 with a strikeout in Friday's series opener. Drake Baldwin will replace him as Atlanta's designated hitter, allowing Sandy Leon to start at catcher.
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Braves' Marcell Ozuna: Drives in three in big win
Rotowire
Ozuna went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI in Wednesday's 9-4 win over the Nationals.
The veteran DH has fallen to eighth in the order in most of Atlanta's recent lineups, but he was able to make an impact from that spot Wednesday with a two-run single in the sixth inning and an RBI double in the eighth. The RBI were his first since Aug. 26, and Ozuna has gone 28 games without a home run, leaving him stalled at 20 on the season. His bat has been showing signs of life of late, however -- he's batting .360 (9-for-25) over his last seven contests with four doubles.
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Braves' Marcell Ozuna: Sitting out first game
Rotowire
Ozuna is not in the lineup for the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Nationals.
Atlanta will go with Ronald Acuna in the designated-hitter spot and Eli White in right field for the first game of the twin bill. Ozuna will likely be back in the lineup for the nightcap.
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Braves' Marcell Ozuna: On bench Saturday
Rotowire
Ozuna isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against Seattle.
Ozuna will retreat to the bench Saturday after going 1-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts in Friday's series opener. Drake Baldwin will work as Atlanta's designated hitter instead with Sean Murphy behind the plate.
