Elly De La Cruz Makes Cincinnati Reds History By Stealing Second, Third & Home in Same Inning

Elly De La Cruz has stolen his way into the Cincinnati Reds history books…

The 21-year-old Dominican professional baseball player became the first Reds player since 1919 to steal second, third and home in the same inning, the latest electrifying feat from the franchise-changing rookie.

Elly De La Cruz De La Cruz broke a 5-5 tie with the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh inning with a two-out RBI single off Elvis Peguero, then got to work making the reliever’s life miserable. He stole second. Then, on a 1-2 pitch from Peguero (1-2), he swiped third without a throw.

The rattled reliever caught the ball from his catcher in front of the mound and turned his back as he walked slowly toward the rubber. Pausing only to put his helmet back on, De La Cruz walked down the third-base line, broke into a sprint and easily beat Peguero’s rushed throw to the plate.

Elly De La Cruz “I kept checking on him, checking on him to see if he was going to go back or if he was checking on me or anything like that,” De La Cruz said through a translator. “When I saw him walk back to the mound, he was at kind of at a slow pace. He didn’t look back over there at third, so I decided there to go.”

De La Cruz bounced up in jubilation and skipped toward the dugout, leaping to high-five his teammates.

After Joey Votto made the last out, Peguero was booed off the field. Cincinnati ended up winning the game 8-5.

De La Cruz became the first player in the past 50 years to steal three bases in a single plate appearance. The last player to steal all three bases in the same inning was Miami’s Jon Berti in a 3-0 win at the New York Mets on Aug. 25, 2020.

“It’s on all of us really, on all of us,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It was a good baseball by him. We weren’t aware enough, like, all over the place, on the field, in the dugout, everywhere.”

Reds manager David Bell could only marvel at the rookie’s derring-do.

“It’s so much fun to watch, so much fun to be part of,” Bell said. “It’s one of those plays that’s so rare, especially on two pitches to steal a base like that. The speed is obvious, just elite speed like maybe we’ve never seen, but also how heads-up it was.”

The surging Reds, who were 27-33 when De La Cruz was promoted from the minors June 6, improved to 23-7 since and expanded their lead over Milwaukee in the NL Central to two games.

De La Cruz has 16 stolen bases in 30 games and went 2-for-5 Saturday to improve his batting average to .328. He’s the first player in MLB history with at least 40 hits and 15 stolen bases in his first 30 career games in the majors, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

The shortstop’s only blemish was a nonchalant toss to second for the final out, but the play withstood a replay challenge.

Lucas Sims (3-1) threw 1⅓ innings of scoreless relief, Jonathan India‘s sacrifice fly in the ninth gave the Reds a three-run lead, and All-Star Alexis Diaz got the last three outs for his 26th save in 27 chances.

Aristides Aquino Breaks National League Rookie Mark for Home Runs in a Month

It’s been a banner month for Aristides Aquino.

The 25-year-old Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds broke the National League rookie mark for homers in a month with his 14th in August in his team’s 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins on Thursday night.

Aristides Aquino

Aquino hit a two-run homer in the first for Cincinnati, and his two-out RBI single in the eighth tied it at 3.

Aquino broke the rookie record of 13 in a month set by the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger in June 2017. The Major League Baseball (MLB) record by a rookie is 18 by the Detroit Tigers‘ Rudy York in August 1937.

Reds manager David Bell’s reaction to his outfielder’s latest achievement?

“Speechless,” Bell said. “Guys are having fun watching him and what he’s doing. Pretty special.”

Aquino, who was promoted from the minors on August 1, tied the Reds record for homers by a player in a month held by Frank Robinson (1962) and Greg Vaughn (1999). He leads the majors with 32 RBIs this month.

Raisel Iglesias Agrees to Three-Year Contract with the Cincinnati Reds

Raisel Iglesias is seeing Red, and a lot of green…

The 28-year-old Cuban pitcher, a closer for the Cincinnati Reds, and the team have agreed to a three-year contract guaranteeing $24,125,000, a deal that avoided arbitration.

Raisel Iglesias

Iglesias reached a $27 million, seven-year agreement in 2014 that allowed him to void the remainder of the deal once he was eligible for salary arbitration. That agreement called for $5 million salaries in each of the next two seasons.

He made $4.5 million this year, when he had a career-high 30 saves in 34 chances and a 2.38 ERA.

Rather than having Iglesias eligible for arbitration each of the next few seasons, the Reds offered a restructured deal that gives both sides certainty.

“If he does what we’ve seen him do over the next three years, there’s all sorts of ways he can outperform these numbers,” Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams said. “Obviously both sides are taking on some risk here, and both sides getting paid to take on some risk.”

The Reds are trying to emerge from a massive rebuild that has left them with three straight 90-loss seasons. Last year, they added setup men Jared Hughes and David Hernandez to the bullpen and got significant improvement. Their priority this offseason is to add a couple of veteran starters.

They also hired David Bell as their manager in the offseason. Williams said Bell and his staff are looking at different ways to use Iglesias, who isn’t limited to a ninth-inning role like many other closers. Over the last three seasons, Iglesias has 24 saves of more than one inning, the most in the majors.

“He’s appeared in crucial situations in the middle of games,” Williams said. “Obviously he’s done it as well as anybody at the end of the game.

“We want to be able to maximize the value of Iglesias.”