Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz is one of the most gifted and electric players in the game, and Monday night against the Milwaukee Brewers (CIN 10, MIL 8), De La Cruz showed off his power and his speed with a pair of home runs. He hit a titanic outside-the-park homer and a thrilling inside-the-park homer in back-to-back at-bats to help lead his team to victory.
First came the outside-the-park homer. In the fifth inning, De La Cruz clobbered a 450-foot home run off the batter's eye at Great American Ball Park. J.B. Bukauskas caught too much of the plate with a 94 mph heater and good gravy De La Cruz did not miss it:
The 450-foot homer is the fourth longest home run of the young season. The great Mike Trout holds the top spot with a 473-foot-blast.
Two innings later, De La Cruz hit what initially looked like a routine line drive single to center against lefty Bryan Hudson, but Sal Frelick missed the diving catch, and the ball rolled all the way to the warning track. De La Cruz raced around the bases and the throw in hit the pitcher's mound, so there was no play at the plate. Look at the speed:
De La Cruz is the first player with an inside-the-park homer and an outside-the-park homer in the same game since Amed Rosario, then with the Cleveland Guardians, did it against the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 31, 2021. And De La Cruz did it from both sides of the plate! He hit the batter's eye left-handed and raced around the bases as a right-handed hitter.
When it was all said and done, De La Cruz went 3-for-4 with the two home runs, four runs scored, two runs driven in, and a stolen base Monday night. It was his first multi-hit game of 2024 and it raised his season batting line from .242/.324/.394 to .297/.366/.595.
"I feel great when I'm running the bases. That's electric," De La Cruz said after the game. "That's electrifying for the whole stadium and that's what I like. The fans like that. And I like it."
