De La Cruz (4 hits, HR), Votto (HR, 3 RBIs) lead Reds again into 1st

LOS ANGELES — On the day they noticed each their youngest hitter (Elly De La Cruz) and their oldest hitter (Joey Votto) emerge from their offensive funks, a variety of good issues occurred for the Reds.

It was a crucial win for Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon because it cruised to a 9-0 victory over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. It gave the Reds two of three video games within the collection and lifted them again into first place within the National League Central by a half-game over the Brewers, who have been swept by the Braves in a three-game weekend set.

“Everyone contributed. When you have your leadoff guy [getting on], and then the next guy up driving him in, that sets the tone for the day,” Votto mentioned. “We did the very best we could to stay on the attack and move toward a win.”

De La Cruz went 4-for-5, together with his first-inning single to proper area beginning an enormous rally in opposition to Dodgers starter Michael Grove. TJ Friedl adopted with an RBI double to proper area, and 5 batters into the afternoon, Cincinnati had a 4-0 lead.

With two outs within the second inning in opposition to Grove, De La Cruz blistered a 1-1 pitch to proper area with a 111.3 mph exit velocity. He added a single within the fourth and eighth innings.

The 21-year-old De La Cruz’s offensive manufacturing plummeted popping out of the All-Star break. Entering Sunday, he was batting .123 (7-for-57) with a .474 OPS, two homers, three RBIs and 25 strikeouts in his previous 15 video games. There have been no multihit video games in that span. In the primary 30 video games of his profession, De La Cruz batted .325 with an .887 OPS and 4 homers.

“There’s always going to be bad times when you’re going up to bat,” De La Cruz said via translator Jorge Merlos. “You just have to make those adjustments to make it seem like it’s going to break out. Sure enough, eventually, you’re going to turn the tide and make it work out.”

To get him and the general offense going, supervisor David Bell moved De La Cruz from batting fourth to main off. Until this weekend, outcomes have been sparse, however De La Cruz did open Friday’s 6-5 win over Los Angeles with a triple and scored the sport’s first run.

“You never want to see our players go through a tough stretch. When you’ve been around the game, you know they’re going to go through that,” Bell mentioned. “Most importantly, you want to see how they handle it. His confidence hasn’t wavered at all. He has continued to do what he needs to do. For that reason, there’s really no concern.”

There’s no minimizing that De La Cruz’s presence has helped the Reds. They have been 27-33 when he was promoted to the massive leagues on June 6 and are 31-16 since.

“He’s such a great player, such a great athlete,” mentioned beginning pitcher Graham Ashcraft, who allowed 5 hits with no walks and two strikeouts in six innings. “There’s going to be many extra instances that he’s going to must [struggle] like that. For him to determine it out and sort of get out of it, that’s a part of the training course of with him being so younger. That’s what will permit him to make that adjustment sooner subsequent time.”

In the fourth inning, fellow rookie Matt McLain lifted a excessive homer into the bullpen in left area. With one out, Votto clobbered Grove’s 2-1 pitch for a homer to proper area. At 111.2 mph, it was his hardest-hit ball of the season.

Votto was robbed of a second homer within the fifth inning when James Outman made a leaping catch on his drive to right-center area.

Votto, 39, entered the finale batting .102 (5-for-49) with one homer over his previous 15 video games, however just like the youthful De La Cruz, he wasn’t in disaster over his struggles. 

“As long as I continue to drive the strikeouts down, I don’t even think about it,” Votto mentioned. “Ask the hitting people: I’ve worked every day. I need to get out there and continue to put the ball in play. More importantly, I’m being put in positions where there’s winning moments in the game, and those can really kind of expedite that.”

Votto has additionally watched De La Cruz do the every day work wanted to interrupt slumps.

“He’s motivated to get better, and I think that’s going to drive him to reach his potential,” Votto mentioned. “So today was exactly why everyone is so excited to tune in to watch him — and us — play.”