ST. LOUIS (AP) – A day after Elly De La Cruz jokingly dubbed himself “the fastest man in the world,” the rookie backed it up in the series finale with St. Louis.
De La Cruz flashed his speed, getting two hits, reaching base four times and scoring the go-ahead run with a headfirst slide on an eighth-inning grounder that sparked the Cincinnati Reds over the Cardinals 4-3 on Sunday.
“Yeah, I’m more faster,” De La Cruz said with a smile through a translator. “Whenever they don’t pitch at me, it gives me an opportunity to contribute when I’m on base. Whenever I’m on base, I’m going to be able to score.”
De La Cruz beat out an infield single in the first inning with 31.2 foot per second sprint speed, the 21-year-old getting to the base ahead of 41-year-old pitcher Adam Wainwright.
“I knew I could get it,” De La Cruz said. “We hustle every time.”
De La Cryz tied the score 2-2 with an RBI single in the third. He De La Cruz walked in the sixth, stole second and scored on Tyler Stephenson’s single to tie the score 3-3.
Then in the eighth, De La Cruz walked on a full-count offering from Jordan Hicks (1-4) leading off, advanced on Spencer Steer’s groundout and took third on Willson Contreras’ passed ball.
With the infield in, Stephenson hit a two-hopper to Paul DeJong, and the shortstop’s throw was slightly up the first-base line and in the dirt. The ball bounced off Contreras’ mitt as the catcher tried for a swipe tag, and De La Cruz slapped the plate with his left hand.
“Right there, I was just trying to score a run for the team and help the team win,” De La Cruz said. “I’m glad I was able to score that run.”
Said Stephenson: “I was just as shocked when I turned around and saw safe. He’s an incredible talent. Just what he can do with his speed.”
Cincinnati manager David Bell was impressed.
“That run there was all speed,” Bell said. “It’s a different level of speed to be able to beat that play. It was a solid hit ball to a shortstop with a really good arm. He just outran the throw. It’s pretty incredible.”
De La Cruz is hitting .364 (8 for 22) with five walks, three stolen bases, a .481 on-base percentage and an 1.117 OPS in six games since his debut Tuesday. He has a double, triple, home run and four RBIs.
“He’s a good player and he uses his speed appropriately and in a couple of different ways,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “He beat us.”
Ian Gibaut (6-1) allowed one hit in 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Alexis Díaz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to remain perfect in 15 save chances as the Reds took two of three from the Cardinals.
“It was a great series,” Bell said. “It’s always tough coming in here against this team. All three were hard-fought games. We felt we had to play really well to get two wins here.”
St. Louis went 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position and is 9 for 70 (.129) in its last 12 games. The last-place Cardinals are 7-15 in one-run games and dropped eight games behind Pittsburgh, the NL Central leader. St. Louis has lost seven of its last nine.
“We’re all very upset about how things are going. We keep showing up and expecting it to be different and it keeps not being different,” Wainwright said. “The only common denominator we’ve had is that we’ve find out ways to lose. We’re losing in different ways every game.”
Jonathan India homered in the first but the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead in the second on Jordan Walker’s run-scoring single and Tommy Edman’s RBI grounder.
Nolan Arenado hit an RBI triple in the third.
Up Next:
Cardinals: LHP Matthew Liberatore (1-2, 6.00) will face San Francisco’s RHP Logan Webb (4-6, 3.09) on Monday. In his last start, Liberatore lasted just four innings, allowing five runs and his first home run of the year.
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