CINCINNATI – Pirates of old were known for sinking ships. But probably none of them could ever have boasted about hitting a riverboat.
De La Cruz had three hits and three RBIs on a night that included a mammoth two-run home run driving into the riverboat deck at Great American Ball Park above center field. It was the exclamation point of the Reds’ 11-5 win over Pittsburgh on Monday.
“We were talking about it in batting practice. We said it was hard to do,” De La Cruz said.
The lead was already 9-3 in the sixth inning with Jonathan India on second base after an RBI double when De La Cruz hit Daulton Jefferies’ 1-0 cutter. It was a towering shot that landed on the riverboat perched above the batter’s eye for his 14th homer of the season. Statcast projected the ride at 439 feet with an exit velocity of 111.5 mph.
Speaking of timing, India had challenged De La Cruz to try to take the boat a few hours earlier in the day.
Guess what? Challenge accepted.
“All day we were playing with each other, seeing how hard we could hit and if I could hit it harder than him,” India said. “I was putting him on BP. He was like, ‘No way, man. You can’t hit harder than me. I was like, ‘You can’t even take the boat.'” Then he got it. made in the game. I was impressed at the second goal. I couldn’t believe he did it.
Reds starting pitcher Carson Spiers, who earned his first big-league win, was sitting in the dugout next to pitching coach Derek Johnson and rookie Levi Jordan when he delivered the opening kickoff.
“No one will believe me… I said this ball would go far. Indeed, it was very long,” said Spiers, who worked six innings for a quality start and allowed three earned runs with seven hits, one walk and five strikeouts. “You don’t see much guys capable of doing that. It’s a crazy time, that’s for sure.”
After a long slump, De La Cruz experienced a strong recovery. In his last 10 games since June 14, he is hitting .385 with a 1.262 OPS, three home runs, three doubles and two triples.
“You just have to be the same and keep a good mentality,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday, tomorrow. Today is a new day. You just have to keep going.”
Ranked third again among National League shortstops in the latest All-Star voting update, De La Cruz on Monday finished hitting three times for the second cycle of his career. With the leading vote-getter at the position, the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, out with a fractured left hand, De La Cruz has a better chance of becoming a first-time 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 today, the Reds lost center fielder and leader TJ Friedl to the injured list for the third time this season – this time due to right hamstring strain.
How does it go about recovering a fallen teammate? During an 11-run streak, the top two in the Reds’ lineup — India and De La Cruz — combined to go 6-for-9 with six runs and four RBIs. And the player who was called up to replace Friedl on the roster – Jordan – picked up his first big league hit with a sixth-inning double, his first run scored and his first RBI on a sacrifice fly during a five-run fourth inning. .
“It’s very difficult to lose him,” India said. “He is an integral part of our roster. All you can do is support him, be there for him and try to help him get healthy because we need him. We will do our best without him for the moment.
As impressive as De La Cruz’s home run was, he had other feats that drew praise. Cincinnati’s lead was 5-3 in the fifth inning when he hit a grounder up the middle and rushed to second base for an RBI double with a head-first slide as India scored.
“The ball hit (the second baseman’s) glove and it was softer. I just kept going,” De La Cruz said.
De La Cruz also made some nifty defensive plays. To open the sixth, he caught Nick Gonzales’ hard grounder in the hole and made a jumping throw to first base for the out.
“The plays he makes on defense are unreal,” Spiers said. “As teammates, we take it for granted, but it’s really special.”
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