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Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz Puts Together Historic Effort in Win Over Angels

The Cincinnati Reds snapped a three-game losing streak on Friday night by beating the Angels, 7-1, and Elly De La Cruz was at the forefront with a historic effort.
Brady Farkas|
Apr 17, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (44) hits a solo
Apr 17, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (44) hits a solo | Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

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Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds snapped a three-game losing streak in a big way on Friday night, beating the Los Angeles Angels, 7-1.

The win was paced by Reds' shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who went 2-for-4 in the win with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI. He also stole three bases.

All in all, it was a historic night for De La Cruz, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

youngest players with HR & 3+ SB in a game, since at least 1901:

4/19/19 Fernando Tatis Jr: 20y, 107d
5/1/81 Tim Raines: 21y, 227d
5/23/81 Tim Raines: 21y, 249d
Today Elly De La Cruz: 22y, 99d

De La Cruz, who made his debut last June, is a special talent who is learning to harness his great raw skills. We'd say Friday night was a pretty good job at that.

He's now hitting .290 on the young season with six homers, 14 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He's posted an OPS of 1.002.

The 22-year-old is a .243 hitter lifetime with 19 homers and 58 RBI. He's stolen 45 career bases. In addition to his big day, Tyler Stephenson was 1-for-2 with an RBI. Nick Lodolo went 6.1 strong innings for the win.

Cincinnati is now 10-9 on the year while the Angels fell to 9-11. The two teams play again on Saturday afternoon with first pitch coming at 6:40 p.m. ET.

Patrick Sandoval gets the ball for Los Angeles. He's 1-2 with a 4.67 ERA. Graham Ashcraft pitches for the Reds. He's 2-1 with a 4.15.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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