How does a No. 1-ranked prospect in baseball topped a big-league debut that included two walks and a double that was hit harder than anything the Cincinnati Reds have hit all season?
How about a first career homer hit even harder that landed at the back row of the right-field bleachers and a triple that rivaled a Canadian forest fire for the smoke it created over the base paths at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday night.
As Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said after meeting the Reds powerful young prospect before the game: “It’s an exciting time for Cincinnati sports.”
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Exciting?
The first-inning home run off Noah Syndergaard was alleged to travel 458 feet, making it the longest homer a player has hit for his first career shot in the last 15 seasons, per ESPN Stats & Info. That two-run moon shot, by the way, also drove home pal Matt McLain, and tied the score after the Dodgers opened with two in the top of the first.
More exciting?
One out after McLain tripled leading off the third, De La Cruz followed with a shot through the left field gap and an average speed of more than 17 mph to slide in easily safe at third. It took him all of 34 steps home to third (7.94-foot average stride), per a buddy watching at home who counted them via the slo-mo replay.
Most exciting?
Would you believe that the five-RBI night not only sparked a comeback from an early 6-2 deficit but that the Reds won on a ninth-inning walk-off – again – to beat the Dodgers and win their third straight game.
Will Benson’s first career home run, a two-run shot off Evan Phillips with nobody out, gave the Reds the 8-6 win to clinch the series and even their record on the homestead of division front-runners (also Brewers) to 3- 3 with the homestand finale to play Thursday.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds’ Elly De La Cruz hits mammoth HR, triple vs. Dodgers