CINCINNATI — Early pirates were known for sinking ships. But none of them were proud of hitting a riverboat.
De La Cruz had three hits and three RBIs on a night that included a game-high two-run home run over center field into the Great American Ball Park riverboat cruise. That was the Reds’ 11-5 series-opening victory Monday over Pittsburgh.
“We’ve been talking about it in batting practice. We’ve been talking about how hard it is to do,” De La Cruz said.
The lead was already 9-3 in the sixth inning after Jonathan India’s RBI double on second base when De La Cruz knocked off Daulton Jefferies’ 1-0 cut. It was a big shot that landed on the riverboat above the batter’s eye for his 14th homer of the season. Statcast rated the drive at 439 feet with an exit velocity of 111.5 mph.
Talk about timing, India challenged de la Cruz to test the boat a few hours earlier in the day.
guess what? challenge accepted.
“We’ve been hustling all day, seeing how hard we hit,” India said. “I was getting it in BP. He was like, ‘No, man. You can’t beat him any more than I can.’ And I was like, ‘You can’t hit the boat.’ Then he did it in the game. I was impressed by the second place. I can’t believe he did it.”
Reds starting pitcher Carson Spears, who picked up his first big league win, was sitting in the dugout with manager Derek Johnson and starter Levi Jordan when he called the shots.
“No one believes me… I said this ball will go a long way. Definitely, he’s gone a long way,” said Spiers, who went six innings in a quality start and allowed three earned runs on seven hits, one walk and five strikeouts. You don’t see a lot of guys who can do that. That’s definitely a scary time.”
Following an extended slump, De La Cruz is on the upswing. In his last 10 games since June 14th, he is hitting .385 with a 1.262 OPS, three homers, three doubles and two triples.
“Just be united and have a good attitude,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday or tomorrow. Today is a new day. You just have to keep going.”
Ranked third among National League shortstops in the latest All-Star voting update, De La Cruz finished a triple shy of his second career hitting streak Monday. The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts’ presence as the leadoff hitter with a broken left arm boosted De La Cruz’s chances of becoming a first-round All-Star.
“Like I said before, I want to go. But I don’t think about it. “I play every day,” De La Cruz said.
Also earlier in the day, the Reds lost center fielder and leadoff hitter TJ Friedl to the injured list for the third time this season — this time with a strained right leg muscle.
How’s that for picking up a fallen teammate? During the 11-run outing, the top two of the Reds’ lineup — India and De La Cruz — combined to go 6-for-9 with six runs and four RBIs. And the player named to replace Friedl on the roster — Jordan — hit his first major league double in the sixth-inning, scored his first run and had his first RBI on a sacrifice fly in a five-run fourth inning.
“Losing him is very difficult,” India said. “He’s a big part of our lineup. All you can do is have his back, be there for him and try to help him get healthy because we need him. We do what we can now without him.
As impressive as De La Cruz’s homer was, he did other things to draw the Ravos. Cincinnati’s lead was 5-3 in the fifth inning when a hit to center field and Indian scored on a head-first slide into second base for an RBI double.
“The ball hit the ball. [second baseman’s] It was gloved and soft. I just kept going,” De La Cruz said.
De La Cruz made some good defensive plays. He caught Nick Gonzalez’s hard grounder to the hole to open the sixth and worked a one-hop throw for the first out.
“The plays he makes on defense are unreal,” Spiers said. “We teammates take it for granted, but it’s really special.”