De La Cruz Delivers Star Show as Reds Batter Yankees 6-1

Call him the Bronx Basher—Elly De La Cruz lit up the Queen City skyline Monday night with a highlight reel performance as the Cincinnati Reds rolled past the New York Yankees 6-1 at Great American Ball Park.

De La Cruz put the offense on his shoulders, launching a home run, ripping a triple, and plating three RBIs to fuel the Reds to their second straight win and their 11th victory in their last 16 outings. Gavin Lux also joined the long ball party with a solo shot to right in the fourth.

Trailing 1-0 after Aaron Judge sent a towering solo shot to the upper deck in the first inning—his 28th of the season—Cincinnati stormed back in the fourth. De La Cruz smashed a triple over Cody Bellinger’s head to tie it and then came around on a sac fly by Spencer Steer to give the Reds the lead. Lux’s blast made it 3-1.

In the fifth, Elly kept his engine revving with an RBI single, and he added his sixth homer of June in the eighth inning to put the game away.

Nick Lodolo battled through traffic early and Scott Barlow picked up the win in relief, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings. The bullpen shut the door as New York went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

With De La Cruz now batting .309 in June and showing no signs of slowing down, Cincinnati turns to top prospect Chase Burns for his MLB debut Tuesday against Yankees southpaw Carlos Rodón. The bats are hot, the arms are ready, and the energy is electric in the Queen City.