BALTIMORE – Elly De La Cruz and the Reds were walking, talking, homer-hitting examples of why the daily grind of a Major League Baseball schedule can also be restorative.
One night after a disastrous, error-filled loss to the Mariners that featured blowing a lead in the ninth inning, the Reds clearly moved onward and upward on Friday at Camden Yards. An 8-3 win over the Orioles included three home runs by the offense, a sparkling pitching performance by Andrew Abbott and mostly mistake-free defense.
“Over the course of a season, you’re going to have those games that just kind of suck to lose," said second baseman Matt McLain, who hit a three-run homer in the top of the fourth inning. "Then you’re going to be on the winning side of those too. Regardless, it’s showing up the next day. You’ve got to flush it and be ready to play. If we do that, we’re going to like where we are at the end of the season.”
McLain's double play partner, De La Cruz, was especially in need of a fresh start after the shortstop committed two of the Reds' four errors and twice struck out looking on Thursday.
Although 1-for-5 with three strikeouts, the one hit – his own three-run homer in the third inning – was what gave the Reds a 3-1 lead.
“Just like that," De La Cruz said. "It doesn’t matter what happened today. Tomorrow we come with the same mentality.”
Batting right-handed as Baltimore led, 1-0, in the third inning, De La Cruz lifted lefty Cade Povich's first-pitch curveball to center field. The ball kept carrying, bouncing off the top of the fence and back into play.
De La Cruz was at first held up at second base with a double, but made the spinning-finger sign for a home run.
“It was a good pitch to hit, and I got it and I just did my job," he said.
After a crew chief replay review, De La Cruz was awarded the three-run homer because the ball landed on a concrete section behind the padding, which per the ground rules is out of play.
Estimated distance of the homer: 400 feet (and one inch). The literal wall-scraper was De La Cruz's fourth long ball of the season and his first since last Saturday.
“They all count the same. I was telling Elly that," McLain said. "I was like, ‘Why didn’t you pimp it? It went out. It doesn’t matter.’ And he was laughing.”
Two more homers against Povich in the fourth inning came as the Reds batted around, and those shots left nothing in question. The struggling Jeimer Candelario, who entered the night batting .117, lifted a leadoff homer to center field to get it started.
Later, McLain slugged his three-run drive to right-center field to make it a 7-1 game.
"When those type of moments happen, it takes a lot of the pressure off of you," said Abbott, who pitched six innings and allowed one earned run, two hits and one walk while striking out 11 for the victory. "And you have to stay on the gas pedal when those happen. You can’t relax, because they can put up just as many. It was a big thing to get those runs. It obviously makes you feel really good. They were putting really good at-bats together before that, so I think it was just a matter of time.”
After giving up Cedric Mullins' leadoff homer in the second inning, Abbott retired 11 in a row and his final 15 of 16. The only blemish was a Heston Kjerstad infield hit that was fielded by De La Cruz before he slipped and fell on the grass without making a throw.
“It was a little bit wet," De La Cruz said with a laugh.
After starting the season with a 3-7 record, Cincinnati is now 10-10. The offense, which began in anemic fashion while missing key players to injuries – including McLain and Austin Hays – has percolated.
Three of the last four games have seen the lineup produce seven or more runs. They've scored six or more runs six times overall in 2025.
"You’re going to see guys get hot," Reds manager Terry Francona said. "There’s some track record there. They’re going to be OK.”
Francona noted he liked the energy in the dugout, especially after a poor showing on Thursday at Great American Ball Park.
"Some nights, you don’t hit. It’s just the way the game goes," Francona said. "We talked about flushing yesterday. We’ll move on from tonight too, pretty quick. We have a 4 o’clock game [Saturday] and we’ll see what we do there.”