At 22 years old and in only his second major league season, Elly De La Cruz is already in the history books.
With his big-league-leading 65th stolen base in an 8-3 win against the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, the Cincinnati Reds shortstop became the third player in the modern era to record 100 stolen bases in his first two seasons. He joined Vince Coleman and Rickey Henderson.
He and the Reds will look for the success to continue when they try for the series win on Saturday in the middle matchup of the three-game series.
“We know he’s fast,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He takes a lot of pride in stolen bases. You have to get on base, too. That’s been a big part of it for him this season. Impressive so far, what he’s doing.”
Though De La Cruz also made some unwanted history in striking out twice to hit 206 on the season to set a franchise mark, the Reds (75-80) aren’t overly concerned.
“We also know there’s more there,” Bell said. “He’s going to get better in all areas.”
Cincinnati’s offense has been a series of peaks and valleys of late. The Reds have scored 33 runs over their past four wins. In their past five losses, they were held to a total of eight runs.
Catcher Tyler Stephenson has been a notable contributor to that offense over the past week. On Friday, he went 3-for-5 with a homer, five RBIs and three runs. He is 8-for-16 since Sept. 14.
“Past few games, I’ve started to feel like myself again,” he said.
Reds rookie Rhett Lowder (1-2, 1.74 ERA) will be on the mound for his fourth career start on Saturday, his first outing against Pittsburgh. After allowing a total of one run in his first three starts, the 22-year-old right-hander gave up three in 5 1/3 innings during his latest appearance, a 9-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.
The Pirates (72-82) will counter with a right-handed rookie of their own. Jared Jones (6-7, 3.85), facing Cincinnati for the first time, will look for his third quality start of the month. In his latest outing, however, Jones yielded two runs on six hits in four innings during a no-decision against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
The Friday loss sealed a sixth straight losing season for the Pirates, who were in the playoff race at the trade deadline, only to stumble from that point on. They won their first game after the deadline to move to three games above .500. Since then, they have lost 30 of 47 games.
“I think it just shows you how much room we have to get better,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “We’re not in that spot right now, and that’s our focus as we move forward to the last (eight) games of the season and into the offseason.”
Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz picked up his 20th home run of the season Friday, becoming the 10th player in franchise history to reach that mark while also recording 20 stolen bases.
“It means a lot, for sure, especially (after) I’ve been through a lot, health-wise, with my ankle,” said Cruz, 25. “To be able to accomplish that and help the team somehow (with) those numbers means a lot to me.”
–Field Level Media
