Back in 1st place!
We know there are very, very few things that Elly De La Cruz cannot accomplish on the baseball diamond, and his talents were on full display in Sunday’s 9-0 thrashing of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Elly led the game off with a single, scored a batter later on TJ Friedl’s double, later homered with a 111.2 mph exit velocity, and finished the day 4 for 5 with a pair of runs scored.
That was good enough to take home the daily Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game honors, though it was a day in which there were many feasible candidates.
First among those was Graham Ashcraft, who continued his scintillating form with 6.0 IP of scoreless, walkless, 5-hit ball. Joey Votto chipped in with a mammoth 2-run homer and a double on a day where he also had a would-be second homer robbed at the wall by Dodgers CF James Outman. Matt McLain homered, Friedl had a 2-hit, 2-ribbie day, and Jake Fraley smacked around a trio of hits (including a double) while swiping his team-leading 18th bag of the season.
It was a day in which everything went right for the Reds in a series in which most things went south terribly for LA. Mookie Betts sat for a second straight day with a bad ankle, while JD Martinez was scratched at the start with a bad hamstring. Catcher Will Smith later exited with a left elbow contusion, and the club was already playing shorthanded after the numerous deals to bring in new players. They’ll right their own ship soon, I’m sure, but for now it’s worth a quick celebration of the Reds heading into one of the single toughest places to pick up wins in all of baseball and exiting both with a series victory and the claim of first place in the National League Central division.
Off to Wrigley with the trade deadline on Tuesday evening. Reds 9, Dodgers zip.
