Cincinnati defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 8-5 on Saturday as Elly De La Cruz made history by being the first Reds player since 1919 to steal second, third, and home all in the same inning.
With a two-out RBI single off Elvis Peguero in the seventh inning to break a 5-5 deadlock, De La Cruz then made the reliever’s life miserable in the space of two pitches. On Peguero’s (1-2) 1-1 offer, he stole second. De La Cruz stole third without a throw on the next pitch.
The agitated reliever collected the ball from catcher William Contreras in front of the mound, then carefully made his way towards the rubber while turning around. De La Cruz strolled down the third base line before breaking into a run and easily outpacing Peguero’s hurried throw to the plate, pausing only to put his helmet back on.
Through a translator, De La Cruz stated, “I kept checking on him, checking on him to see if he was going to go back or if he was checking on me or anything like that.” He was moving at a rather sluggish pace when I last saw him heading back to the mound. At third, he didn’t turn around, so I chose to move there.
De La Cruz leapt to high-five his teammates as he skidded towards the dugout in celebration. Peguero was jeered off the pitch after Joey Votto recorded the last out.
De La Cruz became the second player to steal three bases in a single plate appearance since the expansion period began in 1961. On May 18, 1969, Minnesota’s Rod Carew accomplished the feat with Harmon Killebrew at the bat in the third inning, Mickey Lolich of Detroit pitching and Bill Freehan at the plate.
In a 3-0 victory against the New York Mets on August 25, 2020, Miami’s Jon Berti became the most recent player to steal all three bases in the same inning.
Craig Counsell, manager of the Brewers, stated, “It’s really on all of us. “He hit a terrific baseball, I thought. On the pitch, in the dugout and everywhere else, we weren’t observant enough.
David Bell, the manager of the Reds, could only enthuse about the rookie’s daring.
Bell said, “It’s so much fun to watch and so much fun to participate in.” “That kind of base-stealing manoeuvre, particularly on two pitches, is quite uncommon. It’s evident how fast it was—elite speed maybe never before seen—but also how alert it was.
The advancing Reds, who had a two-game lead over Milwaukee in the NL Central when De La Cruz was promoted from the minors on June 6 and had a record of 27-33, have now advanced to 23-7. They increased their major league advantage in victories after deficits to 33.
It was almost like he was out to score, according to Bell.
De La Cruz went 2-for-5 on Saturday to raise his batting average to.328. He has 16 stolen bases in 30 games. The last out was tossed carelessly to second by the shortstop, but the play held up to a replay challenge.
“It was rather close. De La Cruz remarked, “I didn’t like how I allowed things to happen. “Of course, I appreciate that we were able to win the game with the out, but I wish things could have gone a little bit differently.”
After Jonathan India’s sacrifice fly gave the Reds a three-run lead in the ninth and Lucas Sims (3-1) pitched 1 1/3 innings of shutout relief, All-Star Alexis Diaz recorded the last three outs for his 26th save in 27 chances.
For the Brewers, Willy Adames hit two home runs, a solo drive in the first and a two-run bomb, his 16th, in the third.
For Cincinnati, which established a team record of 22 straight games with a home run, Votto blasted a two-run home run in the fourth inning against Milwaukee starter Colin Rea, and Will Benson added a single drive in the third. The 1956 Reds won 21 consecutive games without losing.
It became 5-4 after Brice Turang’s run-scoring triple against Reds starter Luke Weaver in the fourth inning. Jake Fraley of Cincinnati’s knotted the score at five all in the fifth inning with an RBI double.
With a run-scoring double in the third, Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich extended his hitting streak to eight consecutive games.
BURNES A START
For the third year running, Milwaukee RHP Corbin Burnes (7-5, 3.94 ERA) has been selected to the National League All-Star squad in place of Atlanta RHP Spencer Strider, who will not be able to appear in the game.
ROSTER CHANGES
The Reds chose to sign RHP Michael Mariot to a contract, sent OF Henry Ramos out on loan, and optioned RHP Tony Santillan to Triple-A Louisville. The Brewers reactivated RHP Jason Alexander (right rotator cuff) off the 60-day disabled list and optioned him to Nashville, assigned RHP Jack Cousins (right shoulder) to the Rookie ACL Brewers on a rehab assignment, and recalled Uribe from Triple-A Nashville. They also designated RHP Tyson Miller for assignment.
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