Elly De La Cruz talks about being 7th in Reds lineup
Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz walked twice and doubled in the first game this season he didn’t bat third in the order.
ST. LOUIS – If this is what’s in store for the final two weeks of the Cincinnati Reds‘ season, buckle up.
A demonstrably flawed Reds team that has limped into a tenuous position in the league pecking order over the past four weeks mud-wrestled an 11-6 victory out of the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night to gain a half-game on the idle New York Mets in the race for the final playoff spot in the National League.
“We needed that desperately,” manager Terry Francona said. “To say the least.”
The Reds are barely .500 (75-75) but trail the Mets by two games with 12 to play and were assured of catching one of the other teams ahead of them in the race for that last spot as the Giants (75-74) and Diamondbacks (75-75) played late Monday night out west.
Five teams still claim to be in play for that third wild-card spot, including three teams that sold off players at the trade deadline – the Giants, Diamondbacks and Cardinals (73-78) – and a Mets team that spent most of the season as a threat to win the NL East until its recent eight-game losing streak.
And then there’s the Reds, a team that lost 15 of 22 entering the Cardinals series and dropped its lone All-Star hitter, Elly De La Cruz, from the No. 3 spot for the first time this season all the way to seventh.
Reds rookie Sal Stewart talks hitting, power surge in NL playoff race
Cincinnati Reds rookie Sal Stewart hit an eye-popping home run for the second time in as many games Monday, part of a 3-hit game in the Reds’ win.
Good luck handicapping the race for what might be the last playoff berth decided in the majors this season.
“We’re just focused on ourselves right now,” said rookie Sal Stewart, who delivered a three-hit game, including a rocket-shot homer in the second. We’ve got to take care of what we need to take care of. And whatever happens happens.”
The Reds won a series opener for the first time in two weeks and just the second time in eight series – a rollicking, back-and-forth game that included trading three-run blows in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh before the Reds finally took a lead that held in the top of the eighth (and added a four-spot in the ninth).
That came on pinch-hitter Will Benson’s pinch sacrifice fly after the Reds loaded the bases on rookie Sal Stewart’s single and consecutive walks to Tyler Stephenson and De La Cruz.
De La Cruz wound up reaching base three times from the 7 hole. Miguel Andujar, who batted in ELDC’s old No. 3 spot, drove in the second Reds run of the game with a two-out single in the third.
“Andujar comes up with a big hit early, which I think helps,” said Francona, whose club bounced back from a tough weekend hitting with men in scoring position to going 7-for-14 in that situation Monday.
“I know those things are kind of cyclical,” he said. “Teams can get hot. They get cold. I hope for about 13 games we get hot in that situational hitting.”
Stephenson had a three-run double in the ninth. Matt McLain had two hits from the 9 hole, including a two-run double in the seventh.
Reds starter Zack Littell took a 3-1 lead two outs deep into the sixth inning – allowing just two base runners to that point – before the Cards then erased the lead in the span of four batters, including a two-run double by Alec Burleson followed by a run-scoring single from Willson Contreras.
Littell was done at that point.
“I think we’re at a point in the year where we probably need to keep a little closer eye once he gets that third time through,” said Francona, who had a couple of his leverage relievers unavailable and tried to coax one more out from the big right-hander, who had cruised until then.
But the scoring was only beginning as the Reds regained the lead with three in the top of the seventh, only for Graham Ashcraft and Tony Santillan to surrender it by allowing two more in the bottom of the seventh.
“It was good to see us respond to some situations,” Stephenson said. “It was a big one.”
Stewart, the rookie who debuted Sept. 1, opened the game’s scoring with a no-doubter to left that smacked against the McDonald’s french fry image against the third-deck facade in left field
That made it two crushed homers in as many at-bats for Stewart, who delivered one to the roof of the Reds’ visiting clubhouse beyond the left field wall in Sunday’s eighth inning at Sacramento’s minor-league Sutter Health Park against the Athletics.
“I just try to put a good swing on it, and if it goes, it goes,” said Stewart, who has four home runs since the debut. “Homers are just mishits, honestly. I try to hit a hard line drive up the middle, and if I get under it then it goes.”
They looked like anything but mishits, including the ball he drove to left-center in the fourth that pushed the left fielder Alec Burleson’s back against the wall for the catch.
“I’m happy with my swing so far,” Stewart said. “But today’s a wash. And now we’ve got to get ready for tomorrow.”