Elly De la Cruz hit his fifth home run of the season against Jose Ruiz, leading off the game to set the tone for the Reds 7-3 win and sweep over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Nick Senzel blasted his eighth home run of the season in the second inning. It followed a single by Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
"Elly started it offe. He kind of set the tone," Senzel said. "I just tried to piggyback off him and try to take a good at bat and kind of build on what Elly did to start us off. Yeah that one felt good. I really don't get to hit off right handers any more. That's why."
Senzel was the Reds first pick in the 2016 draft. Injuries and the accelerated development has limited his playing time. He mostly faces left handed pitchers but today he victimized right hander Jose Ruiz.
David Bell is managing a team with a lot of younger players with plenty of talent but he knows they need time off to recharge from time-to-time.
De la Cruz has been the talk of Major League baseball since he was called up on June 6. He has hit a rough patch. Bell found him a day off and De la Cruz responded.
"It was just the way we drew it up. It always happens that way (give a day off and he homers)," said Bell with a touch of irony. "We have to give guys a day off. It is somebody good every day. Elly looked a little refreshed after the day off."
"It is really difficult to describe Nick's attitude over the course of this whole season, I've gotten to know Nick really well. He's handled everything incredibly well. Just a great teammate doing anything and everything he can to stay ready and help our team win and support his teammates. He's a big player on our team, an important player to get him. To be able to get him in there to contribute to a win. The guys on our team could not be happier for Nick."
McLain told De la Cruz that he would hit a home run in his first at bat and that he should point to the camera. De la Cruz pointed to McLain instead after blast left the yard.
"I am happy with the work we did on the off day. I want to give a shout out to the whole team. We have all been working very hard and doing very well," said De la Cruz through interpreter Jorge Merlos.
The Diamondbacks are missing two starters who are on the injured list, Merrill Kelly and Zach Davies. Manager Torey Lovullo elected to have a bullpen day. Ruiz made his first start in six years. He lasted started a game for the San Diego Padres against the New York Mets in 2017.
Luke Weaver, who must carry a horseshoe in his back pocket made one quality start, when he tossed six scoreless innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 25. None the less the Reds were winners in nine of his 16 starts and eight of his last nine coming into the game.
Weaver shut out the Diamondbacks for four innings.
In the fifth inning Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte reached on singles. Rookie Corbin Carroll blasted a 446 foot drive that landed on the deck of the steam boat replica on top of the batter's eye in left centerfield. Carroll's 21st home run tied the game at 3-3.
The running Reds took the lead in the sixth. McLain singled to start the inning but was caught stealing on a close play. He was called safe but Arizona made a successful challenge. Spencer Steer singled and scored on a double by Jake Fraley but Fraley was thrown out trying for third on the throw to the plate.
TJ Friedl, McLain and Steer opened the bottom of the eighth against Tyler Gilbert with singles to score one run. Fraley flied out but India walked and Encarnacion-Strand hit a two-run single to break the game open.
Buck Farmer, Derek Law, Ian Gibaut and Fernando Cruz pitched a scoreless inning each.
Levi Stoudt pitched the ninth. He gave up a triple when Fraley couldn't make a diving catch. He walked Ketel Marte. Stoudt struck out Carrol but David Bell brought Lucas Sims into the game seeking his second save. He walked Christian Walker but sealed the win by getting Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to hit into a 4-6-3 double play.
The Reds swept the Diamondbacks for the first time since 2007.
"They (Diamondbacks) just came off a big series win in Atlanta. They are kind of like us a young talented team. We knew we had to play our best baseball and put those losses behind us. I didn't really have a question that we would. We did that. To get three big wins against them was just huge," Senzel said.
The Reds go to Milwaukee having won five straight and are just a half game behind the Brewers 55-45 record at 55-46. Atlanta beat the Brewers on Sunday 4-2.
"To go on the little skid that we had, this was astronomical, huge," Fraley said. "It may sound a little weird to say. If you want to be where you want to be at the end of the year, winning the division, going to the playoffs, I feel like you have to have some adversity through out the season. We had that early and then we found our way, then hit another little skid coming out of the break (losing six straight). Having stretches like that create a little fork in the road for us, like which one are we going to take. To do what we did this series against a really good Diamondback team, shows how secure we are as a team."
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