TJ Friedl, Elly De La Cruz combine for 7 hits, 2 HR in Cincinnati Reds' 10th straight win
One night after the old man delivered an inspiring return to the Cincinnati Reds lineup, the youngest guy on either team homered, singled and doubled as the Reds’ winning streak began to reach truly rarified air.
Rookie Elly De La Cruz’s big night at the plate – along with home runs by TJ Friedl (among four hits) and Will Benson – helped carry the Reds to an 8-6 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park for the Reds’ 10th consecutive victory, which clinched a fifth straight series win.
This one came one night after former MVP Joey Votto’s stunning return to the lineup that featured a home run and game-winning two-run single. He was a more mundane 0-for-4 on Tuesday.
But there’s nothing mundane about the Reds these days – almost any day – as they assured themselves a second day in sole possession of first place even before the Milwaukee Brewers were done against the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday.
The 10-game winning streak ties the franchise’s longest since a 13-gamer in 1957 and is four off the franchise record set in 1899 – and lengthy enough that manager David Bell couldn’t remember if he’d experienced one during a 12-year big-league career or even as a coach.
Longest winning streaks in Reds' history
1899 – 14 games
1890 – 13 games
1939 – 12 games
1957 – 12 games
1894 – 11 games
1896 – 11 games
1940 – 11 games
Manager David Bell on winning streaks
“I was on a team that won 116 games,” he said of the 2001 Seattle Mariners that had a 15-game winning streak along the way, “and a team that got a couple outs from a World Series.
“This team is different than any team I’ve been a part of.”
It’s certainly different than any Reds team in a long time.
The only other season this century the Reds won 10 in a row was July 19-29, 2012, during a 97-win season that finished with a division title.
Only seven times in franchise history have the Reds won more than 10 in a row – and four of those streaks were in the 1800s.
The last time they won 11 straight was 1940.
Young Reds not lacking confidence
Who saw this coming?
Many of the young Reds will tell you they saw at least some version of this coming in spring training.
But nobody knew that Matt McLain would debut in May and rank fourth in National League All-Star voting at shortstop by June 20 or that Spencer Steer (run-scoring double Tuesday) would become the NL’s rookie of the month for May or that De La Cruz would be the most celebrated rookie in the majors for two weeks (and counting).
“The goal was to make it happen as fast as we could,” Bell said of the vision this spring. “And sometimes you just don’t know. You work every single day and every moment to try to get to that point, and when it happens it happens.
That said, “Where we are today,” he said, “we didn’t set out to get here.
“We’re on the right path now. And we’re trying to speed it up as much as we can.”