The wrong De La Cruz homered in the ninth inning to send the Reds reeling in a series loss to the Miami Marlins, 5-4.
It was Bryan De La Cruz, who belted his 16th home run into the Marlins' bullpen on Alexis Diaz first pitch in the ninth inning.
The loss cost the Reds the series and a spot in the Wild Card race as Miami moved ahead of them.
"It was a tough loss," David Bell said. "Graham pitched a great game probably got the most ground balls he's had all year. He attacked the strike zone, a lot of swing and miss. Even a position like that. We had good at bats today. We had a lead. We just weren't able to hold on to it."
Rookie Christian Encarnacion-Strand drove in three runs and Spencer Steer hit a game tying home run off veteran Johnny Cueto to lead the Reds to put the Reds in front.
Graham Ashcraft continued his string of strong starts, allowing just Josh Bell's 13th home run of the season that started the scoring in the fourth inning.
Steer posted the second hit with two outs in the bottom of the inning with his team-leading 18th home run.
Joey Votto reached his former teammate with his second hit of the game and Encarnacion-Strand followed with his third long ball of the season.
Ashcraft retired 12 of the next 13 batters after Bell's home run, walking Jacob Stallings in the fifth. He allowed two hits in the first inning but escaped undamaged.
The Reds put three singles together against Jorge Lopez by Matt McLain, Votto and Encarnacion-Strand to extend their lead.
Ian Gibaut took over in the eighth for Ashcraft, who went seven innings after logging eight in his last start. He was victimized by a blown save after one run on three hits and one walk with seven strikeouts.
"These day games with it being earlier," Ashcraft said. "It was really humid with the rain that came in earlier. I was pretty gassed. I mean that last inning I was trying to leave in all out there on the field."
Cincinnati manager David Bell brought in left hander Sam Moll to face NL leading hitter left handed Luis Arraez. Arraez got his first hit in nine at bats in the series. Moll was set to face switch hitting Josh Bell with another lefty Jazz Chisholm on deck. Bell hit the first pitch 409 feet into the right field stands to tie the game. Bell homered from both sides of the plate, hitting opposite field drives off Ashcraft and Moll.
David Robertson started the ninth seeking a save for the second straight game. His scoreless ninth did the trick, striking out the Reds' De La Cruz to end the game.
Diaz is tied with Comilio Doval with 33 saves, including the series opener Monday night. He is one off the League's lead in appearances at 53.
"His (Diaz) struggle is nothing more than every player (has)," Bell said. "Alexis Diaz has had an incredible season for us. Two seasons for us. You can't be perfect. You can't be expected to dominate every single time you go out there. Especially for a young player. We expect adjustment. We expect development. We expect improvement. Our guys are working every day. "
Ashcraft went through a stretch of eight starts in which he allowed six runs or more in five of them. Since June 30th, covering eight starts in which he has allowed a total of 10 runs.
"Graham is a perfect example, said Bell to bolster his point about Diaz. "He had a tough time. It was a pretty short period of time. He had a few tough outings and then he kept working at it. He kept believing in himself and he came out of it a better pitcher than before he struggled."
"It's frustrating," Ashcraft said of the Reds' current rough patch. "We're playing the game really well. Guys are making quality pitches when we need them to and guys are taking quality at bats when we need them too. I don't know it's baseball. It's par for the course. They're times when you're on top of the world, nothing stops you. There's times when you go out be excellent and still get beat. It's not an easy game if it was every one would do it. We have a little tough stretch that we're going through. We're going to get out of it."
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