Elly De La Cruz departs with quad tightness

It’s a massive development for fantasy purposes after De La Cruz made an early exit from Sunday’s game against the Cubs with left quad tightness. Reds manager Terry Francona told reporters De La Cruz has been diagnosed with a small strain, but the expectation is that he’ll be able to manage and play through the injury unless it gets worse. There’s always a chance that De La Cruz ultimately winds up requiring a trip to the injured list, but it sounds like the Reds are going to let him play through the minor ailment for now.

It’s unclear what was wrong. The Reds were up by four runs at the time, but it’s very unusual for De La Cruz to come out of anything but a true blowout. Ivan Johnson replaced him, with Matt McLain moving from second to short.

De La Cruz’ home run was his 21st of the season. He hit a solo shot off Zack Littell in the fifth inning. De La Cruz had been in a slump as he was 4-for-33 (.121) with no home runs and one RBI in his last nine games entering play Saturday. He’s hitting .263 with an .819 OPS and 58 RBI.

De La Cruz has started every game in which he’s been on the Reds’ roster this year — and he likes it that way — but a break might be warranted. He’s gone hitless in four straight games, and he’s hitting .127 in 15 games this month.

He walked twice and got just enough lift off a Cade Cavalli four-seamer to go opposite field for his 20th homer of the season. The 24 year-old superstar is hitting .284/.399/.552 with seven homers and 11 stolen bases in his last 30 games. That’ll play.

De La Cruz worked the first of three walks and scored the tying run during the Reds’ go-ahead, two-run rally against Hogan Harris in the eighth. He’s batting .288/.397/.530 with three homers and six steals in 17 games since the break.

De La Cruz walked to open the home half of the first inning and swiped second base, but the Reds couldn’t cash him in from there. The 24-year-old superstar then smacked an RBI double in the third and scored on an RBI knock by Sal Stewart. He also doubled in the fifth inning and swiped third before being stranded there. De La Cruz finished his night with a leadoff double off of Gregory Soto in the ninth inning and he scored the winning run on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Nathaniel Lowe. For the season, De La Cruz is now hitting a robust .279/.355/.504 with 18 homers, 48 RBI and 20 stolen bases.

This was a bad, bad game for De La Cruz. Not getting a hit is fine, that happens to great players all the time. Yet, he hurt his team with sloppy defense here. This game unraveled for the Reds when the Guardians put up four runs in the fifth inning and that frame started with De La Cruz misplaying a ground ball. Then, he had an opportunity to erase his mistake when the next ball was hit at him, but tried to flip it with his glove to start a double play and it was off target. Mistakes like this happen too often for a player of De La Cruz’s caliber. He’s still having an excellent season for our purposes with 18 home runs, 18 stolen bases, and an .842 OPS through 88 games.

De La Cruz singled with one out in the fifth inning and swiped second base, but the Reds were unable to cash him in from there. He also led off the ninth inning with a walk, stole second base, took third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Sal Stewart. On the season, the dynamic 24-year-old shortstop is now slashing .276/.352/.500 with 17 homers, 46 RBI and 18 stolen bases over 372 plate appearances.

De La Cruz got the scoring started with a solo homer off of Luis Castillo in the first inning. He later drew a walk in the eighth and was thrown out at home. The 24-year-old shortstop is hitting .280/.354/.509 with 17 homers, 55 runs scored, 46 RBI, and 15 steals across 362 plate appearances.