Dominican super prospect Elly De La Cruz finally made his major league debut, with a double and scored in three at-bats in the Cincinnati Reds’ 9-8 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
De La Cruz, ranked the game’s third-best prospect by Baseball America, batted fourth in the lineup and was traded in his first at-bat. In that same inning he scored a run.
On his second at-bat, he hit a double to right center field that hit the wall.
Matt McLain’s single to deep center field highlighted a three-run ninth-inning comeback for the Reds.
Trailing 8-6 with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Cincinnati loaded the bases against reliever Caleb Ferguson. Ferguson walked Curt Casali, scored Spencer Steel and cut the deficit to one run. Jake Fraley was hit by a pitch, scoring TJ Hopkins and tying the game at 8.
Ferguson (3-1) was retired by Shelby Miller. McLain then singled over Jason Heyward’s head in center field to score Stuart Fairchild and snap Cincinnati’s nine-game losing streak against the Dodgers.
McLain finished with three singles for the Reds (28-33), who hadn’t beaten Los Angeles (35-26) since Sept. 17, 2021. Eduardo Salazar (1-0) struck out two in one inning for the win. . of relief
Mookie Betts led off the game with a groundout to De La Cruz down the third base line. Betts got to his feet at first with a base hit after De La Cruz failed to hook him.
Betts scored two batters later on Max Muncy’s double. Betts started a three-run first run for the Dodgers, who were looking to rebound after dropping two games of a three-game series at home against the New York Yankees over the weekend.
Cincinnati responded with three runs in the bottom half of the first. Fraley and McLain hit back-to-back singles and Jonathan India flied out to Betts to the right. The out put runners on the corners for De La Cruz.
Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin threw a curveball low and inside to De La Cruz, who nearly fell out of his shoes for strike one. The 6-foot-5 slugger then settled in and drew a six-pitch walk to load the bases for Steer. Gonsolin hit Steer to bring home Cincinnati’s first run, and then Tyler Stephenson brought home both McLain and De La Cruz with a liner single to center field.
The game remained tied at 3 in the third when De La Cruz hit a standing double but was stranded.
Los Angeles took a 4-3 lead in the fourth when JD Martinez hit a solo home run, his 15th of the season.
Reds starter Luke Weaver was pulled in favor of reliever Alex Young after allowing four runs on six hits and walking Betts to load the bases. Freddie Freeman then gave Young his second grand slam of the season and the fifth of his career.
Despite the loss, the Dodgers are still 16-5 in their last 21 games against Cincinnati.