Elly De La Cruz is on some kind of heater in the first month of his MLB career.
The Cincinnati Reds rookie phenom produced a scene straight from a movie on Friday against the Atlanta Braves. De La Cruz led off the second inning with a double, took Atlanta pitcher AJ Smith-Shawver deep for a two-run blast in the third inning, and singled in another run in the fifth inning. As a result, the 21-year-old came up to the plate in the sixth inning needing only a triple to complete the cycle.
You can probably guess what happened next. The superhuman De La Cruz got his triple … and got it in the most electrifying way possible.
De La Cruz got ahold of a Ben Heller changeup and shot it into the gap in right-center. While it would be a routine double for most, De La Cruz turned on the jets and high-tailed it to third base, easily beating the relay throw to secure his cycle.
Check it out (with an incredible call from the Reds broadcast as well).
https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1672409607749214210
It was a historic cycle for De La Cruz in a number of ways. He becomes the youngest player since 1972 to hit for the cycle as well as the first Reds player with a cycle since 1989. And oh yeah, he only needed six innings to do it.
De La Cruz and the Reds are the best story in baseball right now. Since calling up De La Cruz on June 6, Cincinnati is 13-2 with an active 11-game winning streak. They are suddenly now leading the NL Central division at 40-35 and can push it to 12 straight wins by closing out Atlanta on Friday.
For De La Cruz, who is batting a silly .367 with a 1.091 OPS to kick off his career, it was only fitting that he completed his cycle with a triple. He is already proving himself as one of the fastest dudes in the sport and recently had another moment where he scored despite running through a stop sign.
