De La Cruz went 1-for-3 with a walk and two steals in Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Guardians.
De La Cruz, whose second-half slump prompted a drop in the order, has used his legs to make up for the shortcomings of his bat. Aside from the two home runs he hit Tuesday, the rookie has reached base safely six times and stolen six bases over the last five games. The two thefts leave him with 35 over 95 games.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Powers comeback win Tuesday
Rotowire
De La Cruz went 3-for-5 with two home runs, three runs scored and four RBI in Tuesday's 11-7 win over the Guardians.
Hunter Greene dug an early hole in what was nearly a must-win game for Cincinnati, but De La Cruz led a five-homer barrage by the Reds offense to mount a comeback, launching a solo shot off Lucas Giolito in the fourth inning before crushing a Xzavion Curry curveball to right field in the ninth for two insurance runs. It's the first multi-homer game of De La Cruz's brief career, and the long balls snapped a 28-game power drought. The 21-year-old is slashing just .192/.306/.288 in September thanks in large part to a 31.4 percent strikeout rate, but he still has 13 home runs and 33 steals in his first 94 big-league games.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Picks up two more thefts
Rotowire
De La Cruz went 1-for-4 with a walk, two runs and two stolen bases in a loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday.
De La Cruz struck out three times in the contest, but he also thrilled after his only hit, following a second-inning single with a pair of steals before coming home to score on a fielder's choice groundout. The game was a pretty good synopsis of his rookie season thus far, as De La Cruz has posted a troublesome 34.3 percent strikeout rate while also notching 33 steals on 41 attempts. He's added a .231/.298/.394 slash line, 11 homers, 14 doubles, six triples, 36 RBI and 62 runs over 92 games.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Steals two bags
Rotowire
De La Cruz went 1-for-4 with a run scored and two stolen bases in Friday's 7-5 loss to Pittsburgh.
The good and bad of De La Cruz was on the display Friday. He stole second and third base and eventually scored to put the Reds on top in the second inning. He gave back to the opponent later when a throwing error -- his 14th -- allowed Pittsburgh's winning run to score. De La Cruz's bat may slumber, but his legs refuse to take a break. Despite going 3-for-19 over the last seven games, the rookie has stolen five bases during that stretch. De La Cruz is up to 31 steals through 91 games.
De La Cruz is not in Wednesday's lineup against the Twins.
De La Cruz is hitting .161 with zero home runs and six steals in 17 games this month. Noelvi Marte is starting at shortstop while Christian Encarnacion-Strand mans the hot corner.
De La Cruz batted ninth and went 0-for-4 in Sunday's 8-4 loss to the Mets.
De La Cruz's slide down the batting order reached its lowest point since he was called up in June. A second-half slump finally prompted manager David Bell to drop the rookie this past week. In his last four starts, De La Cruz has batted seventh, eighth (twice) and ninth. It was encouraging to see him knock a pair of hits Saturday after getting a day off Friday, but the 21-year-old's struggles continued Sunday. De La Cruz has batted .184 since the All-Star break.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Pinch hit for Thursday
Rotowire
De La Cruz started at shortstop and walked twice before being removed for a pinch hitter in Thursday's 8-2 loss to the Tigers.
It's the first time since De La Cruz debuted in June that he was removed for a pinch hitter. A second-half downturn and a manager seeking any tactical edge in a playoff hunt has impacted the rookie's usage. He batted seventh against a left-hander Tuesday, was not in the starting lineup Wednesday, then batted eighth against a right-hander Thursday. Despite dropping De La Cruz in the order, Bell said he still has confidence in him, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "Elly's going to continue to be a big part of our team, obviously," Bell said. "But where we are right now, every little tiny edge [is important]." Until this week, De La Cruz had been exempt from such tactics, but a .181 batting average and .606 OPS since the All-Star break has changed that.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Gets breather Friday
Rotowire
De La Cruz is out of the lineup Friday against the Mets.
For the second time in as many matchups with a left-handed pitcher (David Peterson), the switch-hitting De La Cruz will take a seat. Noelvi Marte will fill in at shortstop for De La Cruz, who is stuck in a 1-for-20 funk at the plate over his last seven contests.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Steals base in win
Rotowire
De La Cruz entered Wednesday's game as a pinch runner and stole a base in a 4-3 win over the Tigers.
De La Cruz, who has slumped during the second half of the season, was held out of the starting lineup against lefty Eduardo Rodriguez on Wednesday. The switch hitter had snapped an 0-for-22 run against southpaws the previous day. De La Cruz ran for Christian Encarnacion-Strand in the sixth inning and stole his 27th base, then stayed in the game to play shortstop and went 0-for-1. De La Cruz is batting .181 since the All-Star break.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Batting eighth Thursday
Rotowire
De La Cruz is starting at shortstop and batting eighth for Thursday's game in Detroit.
De La Cruz didn't start Wednesday's game and a day later is in the lowest batting order position he's been at all season. The talented rookie homered and drove in six runs in the first game of a doubleheader versus the Angels back on Aug. 23, but in 20 games since he's hit just .158/.256/.197 with a 32.2 percent strikeout rate.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Getting day off Wednesday
Rotowire
De La Cruz is not in the lineup for Wednesday's game versus the Tigers.
De La Cruz is sporting a .459 OPS with no home runs over his last 19 games, so it's probably not a bad time for him to recharge his battery. Noelvi Marte will play shortstop Wednesday.
... See More... See Less
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Speed helps in win
Rotowire
De La Cruz went 2-for-4 with a walk, a run scored and a stolen base in Tuesday's 7-6 win over Seattle.
De La Cruz scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Having been thrown out attempting to steal earlier in the game, the speedy and confident De La Cruz reached base on an infield single then stole second base. From there, he came in on Christian Encarnacion-Strand's walk-off single. The steal was De La Cruz's 25th in 32 attempts while in the majors. Including the minors, he's swiped 36 bags (caught 13 times).
