Elly De La Cruz powers Reds past Brewers on Sunday

De La Cruz provided all of the offense for the Reds on Tuesday with one swing of the bat as he took Tarik Skubal deep for a two-run blast in the third inning. He later added a double in the eighth. The 24-year-old shortstop has homered in four straight games. He’s up to 25 this season while hitting .283/.362/.506 with 88 runs scored, 69 RBI, and 25 steals across 564 plate appearances.

De La Cruz crushed a solo homer off Dustin May in the first inning, turning a fastball around for a 438-foot blast at 112.1 mph. He later added a base hit in the fifth. The 24-year-old shortstop is having a stellar season, slashing .278/.356/.484 with 22 homers, 85 runs scored, 62 RBI, and 24 steals across 550 plate appearances.

De La Cruz has been limited by quad tightness that forced him out of Sunday’s game. Now that he’s back in the field, Juan Brito is taking a seat tonight.

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.

De La Cruz was 2-for-4 before departing in the seventh. Consider him to be day-to-day. If he can’t go Monday, the Reds figure to play Matt McLain at short and probably Edwin Arroyo at second.

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.