The Milwaukee Brewers had a golden chance to draw into a tie for first place in the National League Central Division on Saturday at American Family Field.
It was the bottom of the third inning and Christian Yelich had just doubled home a run to take a 2-1 lead before Willy Adames crushed his second home run of the game to push the advantage to 4-1.
Then it all fell apart.
The Reds tagged Brewers starter Colin Rea for five runs, they took the lead in the seventh and tacked on in truly spectacular fashion and, in the end, rolled to an 8-5 win to go back to being two games ahead of Milwaukee with one game to go before the all-star break.
Elly De La Cruz dazzles on the bases, embarrassing Brewers in process
For the Reds and a national audience, it was the enthralling stuff of legends.
For the Brewers, it was an embarrassing play that simply couldn’t happen.
By now, almost surely, you know what is being discussed, but in case, like Brewers reliever Elvis Peguero, you had your back turned during the seventh inning Saturday, the play – or plays – at hand was Elly De La Cruz’s daring, dazzling jaunt around the bases, but, specifically, his dash towards home plate.
After De La Cruz, the Reds electrifying rookie, lined a slider over the plate in an 0-2 count from Peguero for a go-ahead single with two outs in the top of the seventh, he went to work on the basepaths.
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First, De La Cruz immediately swiped second. Then, on Peguero’s second pitch to the ensuing batter, Jake Fraley, De La Cruz stole third standing up.
Brewers catcher William Contreras, who never bothered even trying to make a throw to third, tossed the ball back to Peguero in front of the mound. De La Cruz sized up his surroundings, diagnosed a lull in the action and a lack of attention specifically from the Brewers right-hander.
And he took off.
By the time Peguero turned around and threw to Contreras, De La Cruz was head first across home, the Brewers’ deficit was two and the City of Cincinnati had a new mayor.
“He’s super aggressive,” Brewers pitcher Colin Rea said. “Really good player. Obviously you’ve got to pay attention to him when he’s at the plate and also on the bases.”
Not only did Peguero, who left the stadium before the clubhouse opened to reporters postgame according to Brewers staff, not pay attention as he should have, manager Craig Counsell said the entire Brewers team was caught sleeping.
“Really, it’s on all of us,” Counsell said. “It was a good baseball play by him. We weren’t aware enough all over the place. On the field, in the dugout, everywhere.”
It was only the second time in MLB history any player had stolen three bases in a single plate appearance, making for an all-around disaster of a play for the Brewers.
De La Cruz is unlike anyone else in baseball. He’s a special talent, a walking toolshed, a spark plug – a “good player,” as Counsell summarized both aptly and succinctly.
It wasn’t like it was the first time De La Cruz had swiped home in his career, either; he did it multiple times in the minors, which gave him the aplomb he needed to do it again in the bigs.
“I just kept checking on (Peguero), checking on him to see if he was going to go back or to see if he was checking on me or anything like that,” De La Cruz said. “And when I saw him walk back to the mound, he was kind of at a slow pace and then he didn’t look back over to third so I decided there I was going to go.”
The next time he’s on base, pitchers would be advised to pay notice.
Abner Uribe makes a high-velocity debut
Abner Uribe introduced himself to the Milwaukee crowd with a 98.5 mph sinker that he pulled wide for a ball to Spencer Steer in the eighth inning, but he really introduced himself a batter later.
In a 2-2 count on Tyler Stephenson, Uribe followed up a slider that narrowly missed the outside corner with a 100 mph fastball for a swing and miss. It was the first strikeout of Uribe’s career in just his second hitter faced as he made his MLB debut.
“It means a lot for sure,” Uribe said. “It really does mean a lot. All the hard work I’ve put in and all the hard work over the years that has happened. To be honest I thought I was going to be more nervous when I was out there and thankfully I wasn’t.
“It means a lot. Very happy.”
Uribe went on to strike out the next batter, Will Benson, with a slider for a called strike three.
“I felt very calm,” Uribe said. “I think my confidence was pretty high, more than I was expecting. I think that helped me keep calm and just go out there and pitch.”
Uribe went out for a second inning and gave up a run thanks to two infield singles and a balk – though a very questionable one, at that, which led to Counsell being ejected for the third time this year – but successfully recorded six electric outs in his debut.
“I thought Abner did great,” Counsell said. “If he throws strikes, he’s going to have success. He threw a lot of quality pitches today. Good outing getting two innings there, big for the rest of the guys. It was a good debut. The run that scored was a little unfortunate, but he did a nice job.”
The balk called on Uribe came after TJ Friedl’s infield hit to lead off the eighth. The Brewers strongly disagreed with the call. Counsell came out to ask home plate umpire John Tumpane for an explanation; Tumpane ejected Counsell as he made his way back to the dugout while third baseman Brian Anderson was also tossed for what he said was a clarifying question about why a balk was called.
“I didn’t think he balked. That’s first,” Counsell said. “I asked for an explanation and then I was walking away…
“And I don’t think it was a balk.”
Willy Adames is coming around at the plate
Brewers shortstop Willy Adames hit a home run and a double on Friday night, then added homers in his first two plate appearances Saturday.
And, really, he wasn’t that far off from a four-homer game.
Adames took Reds starter Luke Weaver deep in the first and third innings for his 15th and 16th long balls of the year, giving him the second-most homers for a shortstop this year.
In the fifth, Adames clobbered a 3-0 fastball from reliever Ian Gibaut at 100.9 mph out to deep right-center field, but it died at the warning track to keep him from three homers in three at-bats.
Then in the ninth, Adames came close to a trifecta again but pulled a line drive about 20 feet foul that would have easily cleared the fence for a homer had he kept it fair.
The swings from Adames are starting to look much, much better, which is a huge sign for the Brewers. After snapping an 0 for 22 streak last Friday during which his average had dipped to .198 and OPS to .652, Adames is 12 for 38 with four homers and five doubles and his OPS has climbed back above .700.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Reds’ Elly De La Cruz steals second, third and home against Brewers