CINCINNATI -- Not surprising after a ball leaves the stadium, Elly De La Cruz's titanic home run for the Reds remained the talk of the town on Tuesday afternoon. Then on Tuesday night, De La Cruz was the only Cincinnati player who did things worthy of talking about following a 4-0 loss to the Dodgers.
During Monday's 4-1 loss to Los Angeles, De La Cruz tattooed a ninth-inning drive to right-center field that sailed through the gap between the smoke stacks and right-field seats. The ball reportedly bounced on the Great American Ball Park outer concourse and onto Mehring Way. The Statcast-projected distance of the homer was 457 feet.
De La Cruz, who has a career-high 27 homers this season, wasn't buying that measurement.
“I think that’s wrong. If the ball left the stadium, I think it’s farther than that," he said.
The longest home run on De La Cruz's resume is 467 feet. It happened at Cleveland during his rookie year, on Sept. 26, 2023. His first career homer was estimated at 458 feet, and it also came against the Dodgers, on June 7, 2023. Neither of those shots left the ballpark, however.
A five-tool player, De La Cruz has long demonstrated explosive power but said he hasn't been intentionally putting more sock on the ball.
“It just happens. You don’t try to do something," he said.
On Tuesday, De La Cruz reached three times, twice against Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a first-inning walk and the only hit the Dodgers starter allowed -- a two-out double in the third inning. De La Cruz also notched a single into center field against Tanner Scott in the ninth inning, giving him two of Cincinnati's three hits overall.
The Reds are a season-high 11 games under .500 at 70-81 after losing for the seventh time in eight games and endured their Major League-leading 17th shutout loss of 2026.
De La Cruz, 24, has a 22-game on-base streak since Aug. 22, during which he’s slashing .427/.480/.775 with seven homers, 17 extra-base hits and 21 runs scored. That includes four homers against the Dodgers.
For his career over 24 regular season games against Los Angeles, De La Cruz is batting .301 with a .965 OPS and six homers. Does he bring a little extra motivation against the Dodgers?
“I don’t know. I try my best against everybody," he said. “Same mentality against everybody.”
De La Cruz can be a free agent after the 2029 season, and there's little doubt that the prolific-spending Dodgers could be a potential suitor when the time comes.
"I know him enough, through All-Star Games and things like that, that he likes the big stage, he wants to play against the best, and against us, he certainly performs," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "But yeah, I think there’s a lot of willing takers for that person and talent. But it’s nice to win games against those guys and still kind of be a fan and marvel at what he can do on a baseball field. It’s very impressive.”
De La Cruz made the defensive play of the night in the eighth inning. With reliever Graham Ashcraft pitching with one out and Kyle Tucker on first base, Max Muncy hit a chopper to third base. As Juan Brito ran in to field the ball and throw to first base, Tucker saw third base unoccupied and kept running.
An alert De La Cruz ran beside Tucker before receiving Sal Stewart's throw and making a diving tag and landed on top of the runner for the inning-ending double play.
“I wish Ashcraft or [catcher Will] Banfield would have been there but it was an extremely good play," Francona said.
Much of De La Cruz's recent hot stretch has happened since he departed an Aug. 30 game vs. the Cubs with a tight left quadriceps. Although he missed no time, he was used as the designated hitter for the next three games and four overall that week.
That partial rest might have helped, and manager Terry Francona gave both De La Cruz and strength and conditioning director Rob Fumagalli credit for keeping him on the field.
"I think he’s done a really good job. Fumo, they’ve been on him not just about pre [game] but post [game]. Getting on the bike, doing some recovery stuff," Francona said. "He believes in it so much.
“He’s been good about [DHing]. He knows we have his best interest. This has been a good learning experience. He said to me one day, ‘Trust me.’ And then I kind of said the same thing to him, ‘Trust me.’ He goes, ‘OK.’”
Has anything else helped De La Cruz access his power of late?
“Just working," De La Cruz said. "Finding myself, getting good pitches to hit.”