EDLC scores points with apology after losing track of runs

CINCINNATI -- A thrilling comeback victory in the 11th inning by the Reds over the Yankees on Tuesday night was almost derailed by a baserunning gaffe when Elly De La Cruz forgot the score. After Cincinnati came away with a 5-4 win, manager Terry Francona spoke to De La Cruz about the mistake.

“I kind of told him I don’t think the best players in the league … he’s better than that," Francona said on Wednesday before the Reds’ 7-1 loss to the Yankees in the series finale at Great American Ball Park. "I didn’t yell at him. I just told him how I felt."

With the Reds trailing New York, 4-3, in the 11th, De La Cruz was on first base with a hustled infield single that put runners on the corners and no outs. Spencer Steer followed with an RBI single to center field that brought home Matt McLain with the tying run.

Thinking the Reds had won on a walk-off hit, De La Cruz jogged to second base and then went past the bag to prepare for a celebration. Fortunately for him, the Yankees' cutoff throw to shortstop Anthony Volpe was dropped and De La Cruz got back safely. Two batters later, he scored the actual winning run on Gavin Lux's walk-off single.

In the end, it was not a costly mistake. But De La Cruz was fortunate to not have created an out that could have changed the final outcome. The 23-year-old later visited the manager's office.

"He came in later and was about as good as you could be," Francona said.

Said De La Cruz: “I just said, ‘I’m sorry; it will never happen again.' That’s how it has to be.”

Francona accepted the apology and was happy to move on.

“I said, ‘I believe you,'" Francona said. "It was not a good mistake to make, but his reaction was -- and that’s what I care about more than anything.”

On Wednesday, the Yankees avoided being swept in the three-game series. De La Cruz went 2-for-4, with a pair of singles against lefty ace Max Fried.

Following his fourth-inning single to center field, De La Cruz scored the Reds’ lone run from second base when third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a two-out throwing error to first on Steer's infield hit.

De La Cruz was among a few Reds who had fielding issues behind starter Brady Singer. In the fifth inning, he briefly bobbled Jasson Domínguez's grounder to shortstop before making a late throw to first. Domínguez was credited with a single, and that allowed the Yankees to add a run on Volpe's sacrifice fly.

Center fielder TJ Friedl lost Domínguez’s drive to the wall in the sun in the second inning, resulting in a double. Volpe walked, then on Austin Wells’ fielder's choice grounder, first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand made a throwing error that pulled De La Cruz off second base.

Domínguez scored on Trent Grisham's one-out single.

In the third inning, Friedl couldn't hang on for a catch after hitting the ground on a Giancarlo Stanton liner. That came just ahead of Chisholm’s two-run homer.

Singer allowed four runs on six hits and three walks over five innings with nine strikeouts.

“Even if they don’t add on that [fifth] inning, there’s a lot more work to do. I always feel that way," Francona said. "It’s never going to always show up in the scorebook, but it doesn’t help the pitcher, ever.”