ANAHEIM — Throughout his rookie season for the Reds, the overwhelming majority of Elly De La Cruz‘s electrical offensive moments have include the switch-hitter batting left-handed. Right-handed? Not a lot.
In Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader vs. the Angels, De La Cruz got here up very huge from the precise aspect. His three-run house run within the high of the fifth inning was half of a career-high six-RBI efficiency that lifted the Reds to a 9-4 victory at Angel Stadium. It additionally arrange Cincinnati to brush the sequence with a 7-3 win within the nightcap that additionally put the Reds into the third NL Wild Card slot.
“Of course, it feels great,” De La Cruz said of succeeding right-handed, via translator Jorge Merlos. “You can always have bad times when you’re batting right-handed, but whenever you keep working on it, you know you’re going to get better.”
Arm fatigue pressured Angels two-way celebrity Shohei Ohtani to exit the sport after solely securing 4 outs. Ohtani left with a 2-0 lead due to his personal homer hit towards Andrew Abbott within the backside of the primary inning.
The Angels turned to veteran lefty Tyler Anderson to take over and, till the fifth inning, the one run he gave up crossed when Matt McLain scored on Joey Votto’s RBI groundout within the fourth.
With two outs and a runner on first base within the fifth, McLain grounded to shortstop. As he sped up the road, Andrew Velazquez rushed a throw on the run to first base and bounced it for an error that prolonged the inning.
Facing De La Cruz, Anderson screamed in frustration as he went to a 2-0 depend on a ball within the dust. His subsequent providing was a 92-mph fastball over the guts of the strike zone, and De La Cruz crushed it to left-center subject for a three-run homer and a 4-3 Reds lead.
“It seemed like he was a little bit off with himself, but it doesn’t matter how he feels or anything,” De La Cruz said. “I’m out there just [trying] to do my job. I’m just out there trying to create something.”
It was the second day in a row {that a} two-out error by the Angels within the fifth inning opened the door for a lead change.
“It’s great to take advantage of mistakes and capitalize in those situations,” said third baseman Spencer Steer, who had three hits, including an RBI single in the seventh and ninth innings. “I think that’s kind of been the difference the last two games. We’ve been able to capitalize when they gave us an extra out.”
Of De La Cruz’s 11 homers this season, two have come right-handed. He got here into the day with a .262 common and .831 OPS left-handed, in comparison with .233 with a .568 OPS right-handed. He had 64 strikeouts in 207 plate appearances as a lefty and 32 strikeouts in solely 75 plate appearances as a righty.
De La Cruz’s different right-handed house run was on Aug. 4, vs. the Nationals and lefty Patrick Corbin.
Manager David Bell has given no thought to utilizing De La Cruz much less towards left-handed pitching.
“We know he can hit right-handed. He’s done it. If anything, he hasn’t had as many at-bats,” Bell stated. “That’s why it’s so important to get him going against the left-handed pitching, because we want him on the field. He’s able to contribute in so many ways. He’s showing that.”
In the seventh inning with the bases loaded, De La Cruz returned to batting lefty towards right-hander Dominic Leone. His triple towards the right-field nook — hit at 112.6 mph — cleared the bases, offering some cushion because the bullpen held on for the victory.
It was Cincinnati’s Major League-leading thirty ninth come-from-behind win.
Even although De La Cruz additionally struck out thrice within the sport, he is nonetheless able to doing injury at any second.
“This is the first time I’ve seen him play in person,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “He’s just a really electric player. And he can really get down the line and run.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com