By Hal McCoy
The Legend of Elly De La Cruz continues to grow and grow and grow with each passing game.
How can the much overused word ‘legend’ be applied to a 22-year-old player in his second MLB season?
It is because De La Cruz continues to set records as the season progresses.
On Saturday afternoon, during a 7-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, De La Cruz contributed three hits, including a home run that was last seen headed for southeastern Indiana.
He also had a double, single, drove in four runs and scored two.
The records?
De La Cruz is the first shortstop in MLB history to have 25 or more homers and 65 or more stolen bases in one season, something that offensive-minded shortstops like Ernie Banks, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Barry Larkin and Cal Ripken Jr. never did.
And he is the first player in MLB history to reach 100 stolen bases and 100 extra base hits in his first two seasons.
His home run was his 25th and he joined Joe Morgan and Eric Davis as the only Reds players with 25 or more home runs and 65 or more stolen bases in one season.
As Reds relief pitcher Emilio Pagan said, “You wonder every day what he is going to do next. I’ve run out of words for him.”
So how does it feel to join Reds established legends
Davis and Morgan?
“It means a lot to me because those are great, great players,” said De La Cruz during a post-game media conference. “It means a lot to be part of that group. I feel great, I feel strong and I want to finish good. I feel so proud of myself, I just want to keep going.”
He was asked about Shohei Ohtani’s 50/50 Club, 50 homers and 50 stolen bases and if he would like to match it.
“That’s unbelievable,” he said. “That’s wonderful. Oh, yeah, I would like to do it, but it’s hard to do.”
The word ‘legend’ isn’t being applied to Reds rookie pitcher Rhett Lowder, but he is establishing himself as a legitimate MLB pitcher.
On Saturday, he pitrhed five scoreless innings, giving up five hits while walking two and striking out five.
He leveled his record at 2-2 and lowered his earned run average to 1.40 for his five major league starts.
And he displayed his veteran-like composure. The Pirates put runners on base in all five innings, but none found home plate.
He gave up a two-out single in the first. Nothing happened.
He gave up a two-out single in the second. Nothing happened.
He gave up a two-out walk in the third. Nothing happened.
He faced two on with one out in the fourth. Nothing happened.
He faced a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the fifth. Nothing happened.
Lowder said the fourth inning was the big one for him. With runners on third and first with one out, he fell 3-and-0 behind Connor Joe and came back to strike him out.
“That was huge, the story of today for me,” said Lowder. “Being able to bear down and make those pitches during crunch time was probably the biggest one of the day. It gave me a boost on not panicking at 3-and-0.”
Of his escape acts in all five innings, Lowder said, “I just made good pitches in those situations. I was able to make big pitches in those situations.”
Lowder has pitched 25 2/3 innings without giving up a home run and all five hits Saturday were singles.
“I try to get them to hit the ball on the ground with sinkers as quickly as possible,” he said. “Just get ahead and try to put them away.”
Lowder was appreciative of the seven-run, nine-hit, two-homer offense keyed by De La Cruz.
“The offense was there and kinda made it stress free for me,” he said. “I tried to get us off the field as quickly as I could to keep our bats going.”
De La Cruz started things happened with two outs in the third inning against Pittsburgh rookie pitcher Jared Jones. The Pirates had won his previous three starts and five of his last six.
De La Cruz doubled and scored on Tyler Stephenson’s single. It quickly became 3-0 when Ty France homered.
With two on in the fourth, De La Cruz tunred on Jones’s 0-and-1 89 miles an hour slider and scraped the clouds with his down-range homer to make it 6-0.
And he drove in the seventh run with a sixth-inning single.
When Lowder was asked about De La Cruz, he talked about a couple of magical defensive plays that included a diving stop and throw on the game’s first hitter, Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
“He is unreal and having him at shortstop, I mean, his defense is what sticks out to me,” he said. “Obviously, he steas a lot of bases and hits the ball hard, but having him at shortstop making those plays are game-changers for sure.”
While De La Cruz constantly makes plays of a spectacular nature, he also boots some routine plays and leads the majors with 28 errors.
“I feel like I’m getting better day-by-day,” he said. “I’m workin’ on it and I just feel like I’m getting better.”
The Reds close the home portion of their schedule Sunday with a dream pitching match-up. Hunter Greene comes off the injured list to start against Pittsburgh’s Rookie-of-the-Year candidate Paul Skenes.