ST. PETERSBURG -- Finally, the Reds' offense is moving on up. There was really nowhere else to go but up, but the momentum now seems to have some legs.
While winning their fifth consecutive game -- and seven of its last eight -- Cincinnati pummeled the Rays with five home runs and a 12-6 victory on Tuesday at Tropicana Field. The entirety of the win streak has been on the road, where the first-place club is an MLB-best 10-2 this season and 16-8 overall.
Entering the night, the Reds were last in MLB in average and slugging percentage and 29th in OPS. Most of their offense was produced by Sal Stewart, Elly De La Cruz and Eugenio Suárez, with the trio combining to slash .268/.351/.518 with 17 homers. The rest of their hitters were at .171/.268/.237 with five homers.
Although De La Cruz hit two homers and had five RBIs, there was again plenty of offensive diversification one night after eight of the Reds' nine starters notched at least one hit.
Batting righty against Rays lefty Steven Matz, De La Cruz's opposite-field two-run homer to right-center field gave the Reds a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning. With two outs in the second inning, Ke'Bryan Hayes -- who snapped a career-worst 0-for-33 skid on Monday and came in batting .071 -- hit a 1-0 sinker for a solo homer to right field. Dane Myers made it back-to-back homers with his full-count drive to the seats in left-center field for a 4-0 lead.
Spencer Steer's two-out solo homer to left-center field came in the fifth. In the sixth, four more runs were added on while the Reds batted around which included Matt McLain hitting an RBI double to left-center field and Stewart lining a two-run single to center field to blow the game open. Myers also, somehow, avoided a tag at the plate on De La Cruz's RBI fielder's choice grounder.
De La Cruz hit his second homer of the game in the top of the ninth inning off of infielder Ben Williamson, who was in to pitch. With the homer, De La Cruz has six career multi-homer games, which surpassed Pete Rose for the most multi-homer games by a switch hitter in Reds history.
Reds starter Chase Burns gave up two runs and four hits over 5 2/3 innings with two walks and eight strikeouts. Burns, who is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA in five starts, took a shutout into the sixth inning before Jonathan Aranda hit a two-run homer to right field.