By Hal McCoy
Elly De La Cruz launched a 414-foot two-run home run in the top of the first inning and Tampa Bay executives could have told fans to vacate the premises, lock the Tropicana Field doors and sweep out the aisles and concourses.
When the Cincinnati Reds score first, they don’t lose and they didn’t come close to losing Tuesday night, crushing the Tampa Bay Rays, 12-6.
The Reds are 12-1 when they score first.
It was their fifth straight win, sixth in seven games and their 10th win in their first 12 road games. And at 16-8, the Reds are eight games over .500 for the first time since August of 2023.
The Reds scored four runs in the first two innings off soft-throwing Steven Matz, 3-0 when the game began en route to a five-homer night.
And giving Reds’ starter a 4-0 lead in two innings is like giving him the key to Fort Knox.
Burns pitched five scoreless innings, extending his scoreless streak to 11 straight before the Rays reached him for two runs in the sixth when it was 9-0.
Burns baffled the Rays by constantly getting ahead with his 99 miles an hour fastballs and putting hitters away with his disappearing act slider.
In the first five he gave up only two hits, two walks and struck out eight.
Asked if was his best slider of the year, Burns said, “Yeah, fairly good, using it to get into the zone. The fastball was kinda wild, but the slider was a really good chase pitch tonight, worked out good for me.”
Burns hadn’t received much run support in previous starts and appreciated the avalanche.
“It is real easy to pitch with a lead,” he said. “It gives you a lot of confidence. At the same time, I have to go out there and do my job. These guys are amazing. They’ll keep swinging like that we’ll all play baseball together.”
The Reds didn’t hit a home run during a three-game series in frigid Minnesota and hadn’t homered in sxi games when they unloaded five Tuesday night en route to scoring a season-high 12 runs.
And Reds manager Tito Francona continues to push the right buttons on the right night. He gave leadoff hitter TJ Friedl the night off and installed Dane Myers in his place.
Myers was on base four times and scored four runs that included one of the team’s five home runs.
The homers?
—After Myers walked to open the game, De La Cruz, batting right-handed against the left-handed Matz, launched his seventh home run, six while batting right-handed.
De La Cruz spent most of spring training asking Francona to let him face as many left-handed pitchers as possible and the results are evident.
—With two outs in the second, Ke’Bryan Hayes shot a 363-foot line drive home run over the right field wall. Hayes broke a 0 for 33 skid Monday with an infield hit.
—Right after Hayes, Myers drilled his home run after teammate Eugenio Suarez had a pre-game message for him.
“We were watching some pre-game film and Geno saw me hit some hard and deep line drives off the pitcher we faced tonight (Matz),” said Myers. “He told me tonight would be the night I finally cleared the wall. I’m glad I did.”
—Spencer Steer cracked a two-out home run in the fifth on a 97 miles an hour fastball and the Reds led, 5-0, with all five runs coming on home runs.
—Down 11-2 in the ninth, Rays manager Kevin Cash used infielder Ben Williamson to finish the game and De La Cruz mangled another home run, a 4-6-footer, this one batting left-handed.
They changed their approach when they scored four in the sixth. No homers. They came on a run-scoring single by Matt McLain, a fielder’s choice on which Hayes scored on a nifty fadeaway evasive slide and a two-run single by Sal Stewart.
Of his Euro-step slide, Myers said, “I knew the catcher was going to have the ball pretty early and I saw him up the line a little bit.
“So I was pretty much a dead fish in water so I just put one of my best moves on him and I’m glad it worked out.”
Francona described the slide as, “Very athletic. Other guys could try to do that and most probably would get hurt. That was very athletic.”
Two more runs arrived in the seventh on a hit batsman, a walk to Myers, a single by McLain to fill the bases, a run-scoring single by De La Cruz and a sacrifice fly by Stewart.
In addition to Myers scoring four runs, De La Cruz had three hit and drove in two, McLain produced a pair of hits with a run and qn RBI.
Hayes added two walks another run scored to his home run.
After his home run, the dugout reacted as if he had just hit a walk-off home run in Game 7 of the World Series.
“You know, that shows what kind of a group we have,” said Francona. “They were genuinely very excited for him. Good for him, because it’s been hard for him. He’s hit balls that haven’t fallen. And it was nice to see him rewarded for going the other way.”
Of the 12-run, 10-hit, five-homer eruption, FranconA smiled broadly and said, “I’m happy for our guys to get some breathing room. It’s nice to spread a game out because we haven’t done that very often. So I was happy for our hitters.
“They’re so good and we did some really good things offensively,” he added. “The home runs are a product of getting some pitches in the middle and up and putting a good swing on them, not trying to hit a home run.”
The only Reds ugliness surfaced in the ninth inning when relief pitcher Kyle Nicolas walked five Rays, forcing in two runs and then gave up a two-run double during a four-run finishing act by the Rays.
The Reds finish the trip and the series Wednesday afternoon by facing former teammate Nick Martinez.
“We’ll have to compete like crazy because we know him (Martinez) and we know how he competes,” said Francona.