Elly De La Cruz slammed a home run on the first anniversary of his call up to set the tone for the Reds' 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
It was the Reds' season high fifth straight victory and dropped the Cubs under .500 at 31-32. The Reds closed the gap between them to one game at 30-33.
Seiya Suzuki, who hit a grand slam home run off Hunter Greene in his last start, hit a two-run homer off Greene in the third inning to start the scoring. It was Suzuki's seventh of the season.
The lead didn't last long Javier Assad gave up a single to Will Benson and a walk to TJ Friedl to open the bottom of the third. De La Cruz hit Assad's first pitch for a three-run home run on the first anniversary of De La Cruz' debut. It was De La Cruz' 11th of the season and second in three games.
"My approach to De La Cruz is attack, attack, attack. I just missed with a cut fastball," Assad said through an interpreter.
Christopher Morel followed a leadoff double by Cody Bellinger with his sixth home run in the sixth inning.
The Reds took the lead back in the bottom of the sixth. Jake Fraley opened with a single. Assad hit Tyler Stephenson with a pitch. Jacob Hurtubise bunted the runners up. Jonathan India drove in Fraley with a single. Friedl doubled off Luke Little with India stopping at third.
Greene turned the game over to Fernando Cruz in the seventh with two out and a runner on first. Cruz struck out Suzuki to close the frame.
Greene threw 111 pitches in 6 2/3 innings to notch his fourth win of the season. He allowed four runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out eight, including the 400th of his career.
The Cubs' bullpen walked four batters in the bottom of the inning to force home a run. Little walked Jeimer Candelario to start the inning. Porter Hodge got two batters out but walked Stephenson, Hurtubise and India. Benson singled home two runs off Kyle Hendricks to expand the Reds' lead.
"I've made some adjustments," Benson said. "I'm happy to be able to help the team."
Friedl has given the team a spark since his return.
"He brought us energy even from the bench. We knew he would bring more to the field," Benson said.
Friedl took the compliment and returned one.
"It feels great when your teammates think of you that way," Friedl said. "And Elly does something crazy every day. He makes defensive plays and on days he doesn't get a hit, he can steal four bags. The home run today, I didn't know it was the anniversary of his first game, but that's an example."
Sam Moll pitched a scoreless eighth.
Alexis Diaz worked the ninth in a non-save situation. He struck out three.
No comments:
Post a Comment