CHICAGO -- The Reds finished May with an electric ending.
A perfectly executed relay -- including a laser from Elly De La Cruz -- cut down the tying run at the plate for the second out of the ninth to preserve Cincinnati's 5-4, series-opening victory at Wrigley Field on Friday afternoon.
“It was perfect,” manager David Bell said. “When it does go perfectly like that, it is a beautiful baseball play to watch.”
With the Reds leading 5-3 in the ninth, Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki stepped to the plate as the winning run with runners standing on first and third with one out. Suzuki then roped a double down the left-field line.
With Nick Madrigal -- who was standing on first -- running on contact and the ball continuing to roll toward the corner, there wasn’t much hope that the Reds would get him at the plate.
That is unless you have De La Cruz throwing it home.
Left fielder Jacob Hurtubise tracked the ball down immediately and fed it to the cutoff man in De La Cruz, who was standing in the grass behind third base. The electric shortstop then delivered a Statcast-projected 93.3 mph dart to catcher Tyler Stephenson to nab the runner at home.
“It really started with [Hurtubise] getting over,” Bell said. “We had a play in the gap right there and had a long way to go. He hit the cutoff man and [threw it] to Elly. We want to get him the ball. We know what kind of arm he has. Everybody does. But he still had to make a play, still had to make a perfect throw. It's a much closer play than it looks.”
Added Madrigal: “My job is just to put my head down and give it my best effort. It’s tough. Looking back on it, he made a perfect throw. Sometimes, some guy throws it up the backstop. It’s just one of those things that we took a chance.”
There’s nothing that De La Cruz does at this point that surprises his teammates anymore.
He has the fastest thrown infield assist since Statcast began tracking such data in 2015, at 99.8 mph, a feat he accomplished on July 20. He has already hit for the cycle last June and he became the first player to have both a 450-foot home run and an inside-the-park home run in the same game on April 8.
His 93.3 mph missile to get the tying run at the plate on Friday is just another spectacular highlight-reel play from the Reds’ electric star.
“Watching him last year and watching his transition and watching him grow, he's done incredible,” TJ Friedl said of De La Cruz. “So at this point, I don't think there's anything that's too out of the ordinary, but when he makes crazy plays or does crazy things like that, it's just Elly being Elly. It’s just what he does. He’s awesome.”
De La Cruz’s game-saving play in the ninth helped deliver a much-needed win for a team looking to bounce back from a rough May. After winning the series opener against the Cubs, the Reds ended the month with a 9-18 record.
“We have just had really unfortunate things happen to us,” starter Graham Ashcraft said. “I feel like we have been doing a really good job of washing the day before and going into the next day. We just have to run with it. We’re just going to take it day by day and see what happens.”
It has surely not been an easy month for Cincinnati by any means, especially considering its daunting schedule. With games against the Orioles (three), the Padres (three) and a West Coast trip that lasted 10 games with stops against the Giants, D-backs and Dodgers, the Reds knew they had their work cut out for them.
But Cincinnati is hoping the late drama from Friday's win will boost the team into June. The Reds have been playing better baseball as of late, and that has shown up in the results. Cincinnati has won five of its past seven games, including last weekend's three-game sweep over the Dodgers.
“It’s just momentum,” Friedl said. “So we're going to carry that momentum into the month of June and just ride that momentum.”
