KANSAS CITY – Elly De La Cruz spent the first game of this series against the Kansas City Royals as the Cincinnati Reds’ designated hitter Monday.
By Tuesday afternoon, he was running sprints in the outfield under the supervision of his manager, infield coach and strength coach as they monitored what manager Terry Francona called a “cranky” hamstring, before consenting to the All-Star’s return to shortstop.
Turns out De La Cruz had the best medicine for dealing with the hamstring on another cool night at Kauffman Stadium.
Elly De La Cruz video from historic home run night in Kansas City
Cincinnati Reds SS Elly De La Cruz produced his fifth career multi-homer game Tuesday, tying Pete Rose for the franchise record for a switch-hitter.
Hit the ball very far.
“I took care of that,” De La Cruz said. “I don’t have to run hard if I hit home runs.”
The Reds’ powerful All-Star claimed another place in the franchise record books with a pair of jaw-dropping home runs in the Reds’ 7-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
The first was a 436-foot shot to straightaway centerfield leading off the fourth inning to tie the game. The second ‒ a 451-foot bolt high into the famed fountains above and far behind the right-center leading off the sixth ‒ put the Reds ahead.
“I haven’t seen too many fountain balls here,” said Reds starter Brady Singer (6-3), who spent five seasons with the Royals before his trade to the Reds in November.
Catcher Jose Trevino, who played seven years in the American League before joining the Reds this season, said
“Impressive, man. I haven’t seen too many balls hit up there, where he hit those,” Trevino said. “I think maybe (Anthony) Rizzo, (Giancarlo) Stanton, I think (Aaron) Judge hit one up there, too. But this is a big park.”
By the time he batted in the eighth, he was intentionally walked during a three-run inning.
De La Cruz’s big night marked his fifth career multi-homer game and second of the season.
That ties him with Pete Rose for the franchise record for multi-homer games by a switch-hitter.
It took De La Cruz, 23, just 314 games to do it.
As for that hamstring, the durable shortstop said it was “fine” and not a problem, even after about a half-hour of treatment following the game.
It’s got a good chance of staying that way if he has many more nights like this one.
And De La Cruz, one of the few players in the majors to have played all his team’s game, seems only to be heating up, especially when it comes to the power, which has surged since Tyler Stephenson – who hit a 417-foot homer to center in the second – and Austin Hays both returned to the lineup from the injured list to hit behind him.
He had five home runs in his first 40 games. And now has six in the last 16.
“When Stevo hit his ball to center, that was like big-boy territory. Then Elly comes up and hits one further,” Francona said. “And then the next one kind of reminded me of that ball he hit in Cleveland a couple years ago (against Francona’s 2023 Guardians) that we thought was going to go to the lake.
“That was impressive.”
In his last four games through Tuesday, De La Cruz was 7-for-16 (.438) with three home runs, three walks and .526 on-base percentage.
The exploits from the Reds’ young superstar overshadowed not only hot-hitting leadoff man TJ Friedl’s three-hit night (plus a walk), but also Singer’s celebrated return to Kansas City for the first time since the Royals traded the starting pitcher to the Reds for Jonathan India.
Singer (6-3) earned the win with seven strong innings, which was especially noteworthy for the fact it followed Nick Martinez’s seven-inning start.
It was the first time Reds pitchers made back-to-back starts of at least seven innings in more than a year (May 14 and 15 last year when Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott did it).