De La Cruz's gift for his son: HR against his first club

HOUSTON -- Bryan De La Cruz didn’t need extra motivation to play well this week against his former organization, but Thursday also happened to be his son Bryan Eliel’s fifth birthday.

So during batting practice at Minute Maid Park, De La Cruz kept lifting fly balls close to the train tracks in left field and hoped they would transfer to the game.

De La Cruz then put together a three-hit performance, which included a home run, in the Marlins’ 6-3 loss to Houston on Thursday night.

“I normally don't pull the ball, but I was doing that during BP, and I was asking God continually to give me that gift for him,” De La Cruz said, via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr.

The return to Houston was a long time coming for Miami’s 27-year-old left fielder, who signed with the Astros as an international free agent on Sept. 24, 2013, but never reached the Majors in their uniform. In fact, the only times he took the field at Minute Maid Park were for Spring Training scrimmages.

By the time the Marlins acquired De La Cruz ahead of the 2021 Trade Deadline for right-handed reliever Yimi García, he was one step away from The Show. De La Cruz had a slash line of .324/.362/.518 with 17 doubles and 12 home runs in 66 games at the Triple-A level, but he was not among the Astros’ Top 30 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline.

Marlins assistant general manager Oz Ocampo, who helmed the Astros’ international department when De La Cruz and countless others signed and then developed as under-the-radar prospects, was part of the Pirates’ organization in 2021. He remembers scout Johnny Almarez peppering him nonstop with questions about De La Cruz before the trade.

“I’ve always liked De La [Cruz] since I first got here,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I’m excited that he’s having success because he’s not only a good player but he’s an incredible individual. So I’m really happy that he’s playing well.”

Everywhere De La Cruz looked on Thursday there were familiar faces in the series finale. Former Minor League teammate Jeremy Peña stood at shortstop and Jake Meyers in center field. Best friend Bryan Abreu was in the bullpen, Framber Valdez and Ronel Blanco in the dugout.

Entering this year, De La Cruz had batted .182 in six games against his former club. But he was 6-for-11 in this series, raising his career batting average vs. the Astros to .303.

“I got the opportunity last year to play against them,” De La Cruz said. “I get excited every time I get the opportunity. … I signed with them. So I never made it to the big leagues with them, but I'm here playing against them. So that gets me a little excited and then gives me a little extra [motivation].”

De La Cruz opened the scoring by crushing a hanging slider from righty Jake Bloss into the Crawford Boxes in the first inning. He reached on catcher's interference, singled to center and singled to left.

De La Cruz leads the club in home runs (16) and RBIs (44). But it has been a struggle of late for De La Cruz, whom the ballclub hoped would take another step forward. While he is just three homers shy of a single-season career high, his average, on-base percentage and OPS are down.

“During the offseason, I kind of forgot how to get hits,” De La Cruz said. “I was just focused on the power all the time. I think that was something that happened, too, at the beginning of the season.

“But you start thinking back and you think, ‘OK, I have to combine this, too. If I combine this, too, that's the type of hitter I can be, combining the home runs and the base hits.’”

From June 22 to July 7, De La Cruz slashed .167/.206/.250 across 15 games, with 19 strikeouts and only three walks. Then came a visit to Houston.

“It was a matter of time,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “De La's going to hit. He got a good slider that he capitalized on, stayed up the middle, hit the other way. When he's using the whole field, he's really good.

“De La getting back on track, we need him to hit. We need the middle of the order to go. We have some guys that are scuffling up and down for sure, but we get De La and [Jesús] Sánchez going and Jazz [Chisholm Jr.] at the top, it's a much better lineup when we get going.”