Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz became the youngest player in Major League Baseball to hit for the cycle in 51 years. As a result, Cincinnati extended its win streak to 12 games with Cincinnati’s 11-10 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday.
The 21-year-old De La Cruz hit a double in the first inning, a two-run home run in the third, a run-scoring single to center field in the fifth, and a triple in the sixth for his fourth RBI of the night. The Reds now led 11-7 after the final hit.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, he became the youngest player to hit for the cycle since Houston’s César Cedeo in 1972. In addition, De La Cruz is the third player since 1901 to hit for the cycle in his first 15 games of professional play.
The cycle was the first since Eric Davis did it against San Diego on June 2, 1989, making it the first cycle since 1900 and the seventh in team history.
The same No. is worn by De La Cruz. that Davis carried out
De La Cruz, speaking through a translator, stated, “I can’t really put it into words right now.” “I’m happy and excited. It is fortunate Eric Davis is one of the legends of this game and in Cincinnati, too. Sure enough he let me wear that jersey No. 44 and to be the [first] one since him to do that, is incredible.”
The crowd of 43,086 at Great American Ball Park, which was sold out, chanted “Elly! Elly!” Two months after the stadium’s record-low attendance of 7,375 on April 17, there was a record turnout.
“I think this might be the best regular-season game that I’ve been a part of,” Reds manager David Bell said. “I think a lot had to do with the atmosphere in the ballpark. Both teams played a great game. They came up short, but it showed the kind of team they are. It took a lot of great performances to win that game.”
Cincinnati overcame Atlanta’s eight-game winning streak and overcame an early 5-0 deficit in a wild matchup of division leaders in the National League.
The Reds’ winning streak is the second-longest in the club’s history, surpassing that of the 1939 and 1957 squads.
The streak is tied with the 1890 Louisville Colonels for the longest win streak in major league history by a team that had lost at least 100 games the season before.
