De La Cruz reaches 20/50 mark with massive four-XBH night

MIAMI -- Elly De La Cruz is no stranger to history. He’s already had some impressive outings in his young career, but on Monday night in Miami, De La Cruz joined two other Cincinnati greats on an exclusive list.

With a pair of home runs in the Reds’ 10-3 win over the Marlins at loanDepot park, De La Cruz became the third Red to hit 20 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season, joining Joe Morgan (1973, ‘74, ‘76) and Eric Davis (‘86, ‘87). De La Cruz is the 14th player in AL/NL history (since 1901) to have a 20/50 season.

De La Cruz and Davis are fairly close; the 22-year-old shortstop will often receive a text from Davis after a game, asking how he felt about his performance and whatnot. Now, the pair share company on the same elite list -- a list synonymous with power and speed.

De La Cruz said "it means a lot" to have the support of Davis, and also another former Reds great who texts with him, Barry Larkin. "I feel so grateful to be here and to feel so very supported.”

The two home runs were just part of De La Cruz’s performance on Monday, as he went 4-for-5 with the two long balls and two doubles to record his first game with four extra-base hits. De La Cruz became just the second Reds player (since at least 1901) to have two doubles and two home runs in a single game. The other player? Paul O’Neill, who accomplished the feat on May 11, 1991 -- 10 years and eight months before De La Cruz was born.

“It's really special to watch,” starting pitcher Nick Martinez said. “[Brent] Suter did the math in the dugout, I think [De La Cruz] had a total exit velocity of like 490-something today? He was absolutely crushing the ball.”

Cincinnati’s onslaught began when De La Cruz crushed a two-run homer in the first inning to set the tone. In his next at-bat, De La Cruz jetted around the bases, taking advantage of a pair of errors from the Marlins to turn a measly grounder (which went just four feet) into three bases. He then doubled in the fourth and sixth innings before crushing a solo homer -- his 20th of the season -- in the eighth inning.

De La Cruz entered the series after going 0-for-11 against the Giants over the weekend. He was one of a few Reds who has had a small downtick in production of late. But that’s no issue for the youngster, nor the club as a whole. De La Cruz was one of three Reds who went yard against the Marlins, joining Ty France and Noelvi Marte.

“He just keeps getting better,” manager David Bell said. “Loves to play. He had a good game the last game on the last road trip, [and] I gave him an off-day the next day -- I think it got him out of his rhythm a little bit and he just kept fighting to find his timing and rhythm.

“We knew he'd get it back, and today everything kind of came together for him. So I think the idea now is to hold on to that, [and] we should be able to do that. He just works so hard and plays hard every single day and clearly helped us win the game tonight.”

Now, circling back to that 20/50 mark; De La Cruz is just the third player to achieve the feat in their age 22 season -- the D-backs’ Corbin Carroll did so last season -- and is the youngest primary shortstop (at least 50% of games at the position) to reach the mark. Hanley Ramirez, who went 29/51 in 2007, is the only other shortstop to do so, and that was his age 23 season.

So will his manager ever get tired of seeing De La Cruz continue to make history?

“No, of course not,” Bell said with a laugh. “There's a lot more to come.

“... It's fun to watch him every day. But it does start with his approach to how he's working and continuing to get better, [he] wants to be on the field. And he’s a great teammate. Teammates love him -- that makes it more enjoyable to watch him play. not only is he a great player, but he's doing all the other things.”