DETROIT -- In a game that featured four home runs by the Reds and an 11-1 rout of a Tigers club with baseball's best record, how did shortstop Elly De La Cruz still manage to stand out the most at Comerica Park on Saturday?
By preventing a run and stopping Detroit's momentum with a superlative defensive play. It came on a relay throw that cut down Javier Báez at the plate trying to score during a scoreless game in the bottom of the third inning.
“I know it doesn’t count any more on the scoreboard, but it’s almost like an alley-oop dunk," Reds manager Terry Francona said. "You feel like you get some momentum."
Báez was on first base with a leadoff walk from starter Brady Singer when Trey Sweeney scorched a drive to the wall in right field. Jake Fraley played the carom to perfection and fired a cut-off throw to De La Cruz. From the grass beyond the infield dirt, De La Cruz fired a 98.3 mph relay to catcher Jose Trevino, who dove to tag Báez as he slid headfirst into the plate.
“Unbelievable play there," said Singer, who escaped with Sweeney stranded at third base. "It’s just really cool to watch what he does every night, obviously. … We were able to capitalize on that.”
De La Cruz's throw marked the fourth-fastest-tracked assist by an infielder under Statcast (2015). He owns four of the top five spots in that category:
- De La Cruz: 99.8 mph (July 20, 2023)
- De La Cruz: 99.7 mph (Aug. 27, 2023)
- Gabriel Arias: 98.5 mph (May 28, 2024)
- De La Cruz: 98.3 mph (June 14, 2025)
- De La Cruz: 97.9 mph (July 16, 2023)
Most clubs usually have the second baseman take the relays from right field.
"De La Cruz is pretty much extraordinary in everything," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "He's incredible. When they reversed that [relay], I don't blame them why they do it. They want him to take every outfield throw for that precise reason. And he threw a bullet."
First De La Cruz saved a run. Then he created one.
Leading off the fourth, De La Cruz gave Cincinnati a 1-0 lead when he hit a 1-1 fastball from Tigers starter Jack Flaherty for a booming home run that marked the Reds' first hit of the game. According to Statcast, the ball left De La Cruz's bat at 110.1 mph.
It was De La Cruz's team-leading 15th homer this season, and he has hit one in three-straight games for the first time in his career. He is hitting .343/.443/.746 with seven home runs, 14 RBIs and 21 runs scored in his last 19 games since May 24. De La Cruz also has 12 walks in 79 plate appearances.
This hot stretch has come amid adversity. De La Cruz dealt with a cranky hamstring last month and mourned the passing of his older sister, Genelis, on May 31.
“We just have the same mentality every day. We stay positive and try to win every game," De La Cruz said. "I go up there with my plan, and I execute it.”
Detroit evened the game in the bottom of the fourth, but the Reds erupted with six runs in the top of the fifth inning, sending 10 men to the plate. Following a one-out broken-bat RBI single to right field by Gavin Lux that scored Fraley, Flaherty walked De La Cruz on five pitches to load the bases.
On a first-pitch breaking ball from Flaherty, Tyler Stephenson hit a drive to left field for the second grand slam of his career and sixth homer of the season.
“If they don’t pitch to Elly, you want them to pay for it," Francona said. "That’s the idea. We’ve tried to put whoever is hot behind him the best we can."
Stephenson is 10-for-22 (.455) during his five-game hitting streak. Two batters later, Spencer Steer hit a 1-1 pitch to left field for his fifth homer of 2025 to push the lead to six runs.
Cincinnati, which has won six of its past eight games, is 3-2 on the road trip with one game remaining on Sunday. Winning a trip to Cleveland, and especially in Detroit, would be a statement week for the 36-35 club trying to get on a run.
“All of us know what we’re capable of and how we can play," Stephenson said. "I felt like we’ve been doing that the past week or so. We just have to maintain it, trust ourselves, keep doing what we’re doing and play the baseball that we know how to play.”