A sell-out crowd of 43,086 watched the Cincinnati Reds extend their longest winning streak since 1957 to 12 games on Friday night at Great American Ball Park. The Reds equalized 5-0 and 7-5 deficits against the best National League players Atlanta Braves and achieved an 11-10 win (box score). Cincinnati leads baseball with 27 comeback wins and this was their fifth straight comeback win.
Not so long ago – April 17 to be precise – the Reds played in front of a home crowd of 7,375. That was the smallest crowd in the history of the Great American Ball Park. The place is now full and the atmosphere on Friday was downright electrifying. The team is very good and fun and the fans come to support them. Good times in the Queen City.
Here are five takeaways from the Reds’ thrilling win from a deficit that allowed them to extend their winning streak on Friday night.
1. De La Cruz scores for the cycle
The Braves jumped on Reds right-hander Luke Weaver and took a 5-0 lead early in the first inning. Travis d’Arnaud’s triple home run was the big hit of the inning. At this point, it would have been easy for the Reds to say they were in for a bad night after an 11-game winning streak. They didn’t. They charged back and Elly De La Cruz led the charge.
De La Cruz, the 21-year-old headliner on our All-Fun team, struck for the cycle on Friday night, becoming the first Reds player to do so since Eric Davis on June 2, 1989. Here’s what De La Cruz did on Friday:
- 2nd inning: 116.6 miles per hour double. He later hit on Jake Fraley’s two-run home run to put the Reds 5-2 up.
- 3rd inning: Over-the-shoulder catch in foul territory results in Matt Olson being eliminated.
- 4th inning: 96.3 mph (yawn) home run in two runs to put the Reds 5-4.
- 5th inning: RBI single to bring the Reds up to 7-6. Then he stole second.
- 6th inning: 98.0 mph rocket triple to complete the cycle.
- 8th inning: Lazy flies in the middle. You can’t land a hit every time.
At 21 years and 163 days, De La Cruz is the fifth youngest player ever to score for the cycle, and he is the youngest player since 1901 with a cycle and a stolen base in the same game. He is the first Reds player with 10 extra base hits and seven stolen bases in his first 15 career games. Just unbelievable. Here’s his electric evening:
It should be noted that De La Cruz faced Braves newcomer AJ Smith-Shawver on Friday. De La Cruz vs. Smith-Shawver was the first duel in baseball history involving a batter and a pitcher, both born in 2002. Do you feel old already? The Reds are 14-2 since De La Cruz made his big league debut on June 6.
2. Votto still has it
It wasn’t until June 19th that Joey Votto joined these redlegs. The 39-year-old missed the start of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery last August and in April he had to pull out of his minor league rehab stint because his range of motion wasn’t fully restored. Votto eventually returned to minor league games and rejoined the Reds earlier this week.
Given his age and shoulder problems, it was fair to wonder if Votto still had anything to offer, but he answered that question in a short amount of time. Votto went deep on his season debut on Monday, and he went deep twice more on Friday, including a massive three-run home run in the fifth inning. Listen:
In four games after shoulder surgery, Votto is 4 for 13 (.308) with three homers and 7 RBI. While working through the shoulder issue last season, he struggled to a .205/.319/.370 line, but Votto is a hitting expert and it wasn’t until 2021 that he managed .266/.375/.563 with 36 homers. Now with the fact that his shoulder is healthy, he shows he can still be a hitter.
At 39 years and 286 days, Votto became the oldest Reds player with a multi-homer game on Friday, surpassing Ken Griffey Sr. (39 years and 104 days on July 23, 1989).
3. The Reds could use more pitching
Looking ahead to the trading deadline, it’s pretty obvious what this Reds team needs to find serious success in the NL Central and in the postseason. You need pitching. At least one starter and one or three helpers. De La Cruz, Votto and the rest of the offense were great and the comeback win was exciting, but that’s a problem:
Luke Weaver | 3 1/3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
bullpen (6 helpers) | 5 2/3 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
In total | 9 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 8th | 5 |
Setup man Lucas Sims allowed three solo homers in the eighth inning (Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, Matt Olson) to convert a comfortable 11-7 lead into a tight 11-10 game. Weaver has a 6.86 ERA in 12 starts this season and is third on the team with 60 1/3 innings. Keep in mind that the workload of young pitchers like Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott is monitored.
Fortunately, the trade deadline is still more than five weeks away, and that’s plenty of time for GM Nick Krall and his staff to step up the pitching. The victory on Friday was one for eternity. It was also a reminder that the Reds still need some guns.
4. It is the fourth-longest winning streak in Reds history
The 12-game winning streak is the Reds’ longest since 1957 and the fourth-longest in franchise history. You know, the Reds have been around in one form or another since 1882? Here are the longest winning streaks in team history:
This current 12-game winning streak is the longest in a single season in modern times (since 1901), which is quite remarkable considering how long this franchise has been around. During that 12-game winning streak, the Reds beat the Astros in Houston and now they’ve beaten the Braves. Those are some quality gains.
The Reds will send right-back Graham Ashcraft (3-5, 6.78 ERA) to the mound on Saturday afternoon in a bid to extend their winning streak to 13 games. The Braves will counter with rookie Jared Shuster (4-2, 4.57 ERA). 41-35, Cincinnati leads the NL Central and it’s the first time since winning the division in 2012 that they’ve held first place alone this late in the season.
5. The Braves will be fine
Tough defeat for the Braves on Friday. They blew the lead 5-0, 7-5 – according to FanGraphs, Atlanta had a 93.4% chance of winning the game in the second inning – and that’s always going to hurt. However, they still have the best record in the National League at 48-26 and were on an eight-game winning streak on Friday. Atlanta have been great lately and there’s no reason to think they won’t be great in the future. Just a bad night for braves. It happens. Nothing to worry about.