Clutch hitting by Elly De La Cruz leads the Reds to a win

The Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays were scoreless through five innings on Saturday evening before the visiting club broke through in the top of the 6th inning to break the tie. The Reds would rally to take the lead for good in the bottom of the 7th on a bases loaded single with two outs by Elly De La Cruz and Cincinnati watched the bullpen take care of things from there in a 6-2 win on Saturday night in front of nearly 40,000 fans at Great American Ball Park.

Final
R
H
E

Tampa Bay Rays (53-52)
2
5
1

Cincinnati Reds (55-50)
6
7
1

W: Ashcraft (6-4) L: Baker (3-4)

Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread

There was a pitching duel going on between the two starters in this one through the first five innings of the game. But Tampa Bay broke through with a run in the top of the 6th inning when Yandy Diaz hit a solo home run into the seats below the power stacks in right-center.

The Reds would get on the board in the bottom of the inning with some help from the Rays. With two on and two out, Austin Hays hit a hard grounder to shortstop and it went under the glove of Taylor Wells, allowing both TJ Friedl and Matt McLain to score and put Cincinnati up 2-1.

Graham Ashcraft entered the game in the 7th, taking over for Andrew Abbott. Tampa Bay would get a little something going against him with one out as Jose Caballero walked and moved to third on a single by Jonny DeLuca. With Josh Lowe at the plate the umpire called what appeared to be strike three a ball, which got Terry Francona barking from the dugout. The next pitch was hit for an RBI single that tied the game up. Francona was then ejected for arguing with the umpire over the previous call.

The Reds got a little rally of their own going in the bottom of the inning and a lot of it came at the expense of the Rays bullpen not being able to find the strikezone. Spencer Steer led off with a walk and TJ Friedl picked up a 2-out walk to keep the inning alive. Reliever Bryan Baker then injured himself in the middle of facing Matt McLain and was replaced by Garrett Cleavinger, who came out of the bullpen and walked McLain to load the bases. The lefty then got ahead of Elly De La Cruz 0-2, but the Reds shortstop worked a full count before hitting a bloop single into center to plate two runs and give the home team a 4-2 lead.

Tony Santillan worked around a single with three strikeouts in the top of the 8th inning. During the bottom of the inning the Cincinnati offense went to work as Tyler Stephenson led off with a single and then Santiago Espinal, TJ Friedl, and Matt McLain put together three straight 2-out singles to plate two more runs and make it a 6-2 ballgame.

Emilio Pagan took the mound in the top of the 9th looking to get three outs without giving up the lead. He immediately got some help from Austin Hays in left field as he made a full out diving catch to record out number one of the inning. Another line drive to left followed, but this time Hays barely had to move to catch it. A third straight line drive to left field ended the game as Cincinnati held on for a 6-2 win and gave them a series win with one game remaining between the Reds and the Rays.

Key Moment of the Game

Elly De La Cruz driving in two runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to break a 2-2 tie and give the Reds the lead.

Notes Worth Noting

Andrew Abbott lowered his ERA to 2.09 on the season. The All-Star lefty has now made 18 starts and 14 of them have seen him allow zero of one run. Dominant. Filthy. Incredible.

Elly De La Cruz had a big night as he picked up a double, single, a walk, and two big runs batted in. He’s now hitting .285/.365/.490 on the season. De La Cruz is now in the top 15 in the NL in average, on-base percentage, OPS, hits, runs, RBI, and steals.

Matt Mclain hit .118 in the first nine games of July. In the 11 games since he’s hit .341.

Emilio Pagan’s ERA dropped to 2.70 on the season. Tony Santillan’s dropped to 2.83.

Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds

Tampa Bay Rays vs Cincinnati Reds

Sunday July 27th, 1:40pm ET

Shane Baz (8-6, 4.66 ERA) vs Brady Singer (7-8, 4.84 ERA)