The Cincinnati Reds are three games below .500 and eight games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. But Cincinnati’s games have become must-watch events thanks to the play of All-Star shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who’s wrecking Reds’ franchise records this season.
On Monday De La Cruz became the youngest Reds’ player with four extra-base hits in a single game. Today he added four more hits and became the first Cincinnati player with back-to-back four-hit games in 23 years, as Dmitri Young had been the last to do it in 2001, per MLB’s Sarah Langs on X. He’s also just the 13th Reds' player to have consecutive four-hit games since 1901.
It’s safe to say De La Cruz is enjoying the Marlins’ hospitality. After going hitless in a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants, De La Cruz has unleashed an offensive onslaught against Miami. In the last two games he’s gone 8-10 with four doubles, two home runs, five RBI, and five runs scored. And tonight he picked up his major league-leading 58th stolen base for good measure.
The Reds’ Elly De La Cruz is on an offensive rampage
The Reds beat the Marlins 8-2 to improve to 55-58 on the year. And De La Cruz was once again the engine driving this blowout. After hitting a single in his first at bat, De La Cruz doubled in the third and added a two-run double in the fourth. In the sixth he was retired with his MLB-leading 144th strikeout before singling again in the eighth inning.
The superstar shortstop is slashing .268/.352/.505 on the season and is now up to 26 doubles, 20 home runs, 50 RBI, 75 runs scored and those 58 steals. He has an .857 OPS and four WAR in 111 games for the Reds so far in 2024. The second-year player made his first All-Star game this season but De La Cruz wasn’t selected as a starter. That’s likely to change next year even if he can’t keep up this blistering pace.
With tonight’s electric performance, De La Cruz became the youngest player in baseball with back-to-back four-hit games since Cameron Maybin did it in 2008. And, if he can do it all over again against the Marlins tomorrow night, he would become the first Reds’ player with three-straight four-hit games since 1901, per Langs on X. At 22-years-old, De La Cruz would be the youngest player with three consecutive four-hit games.
It’s certainly asking a lot of the young star to rack up four more hits tomorrow. Even if he falls short, he’s single-handedly made the Reds exciting to watch. And in a lost season that’s likely to result in Cincinnati falling short of the playoffs for the 10th time in 11 years, that’s no small feat.
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