ATLANTA – When Elly De La Cruz broke from first base as Sal Stewart swung through a third strike, the race was on.
De La Cruz reached second base in a blur – even if took a few minutes for replay officials to determine the safe call would "stand."
Two innings later, he lined a pitch over the right-field wall for a two-out, solo home run – no replay needed.
And just like that the Cincinnati Reds' star shortstop was one stolen base and one home run from achieving the fourth 30-30 season in franchise history.
You want drama? You want intrigue and suspense?
You won't find it with this team in these National League standings this year.
But De La Cruz continues to keep things interesting – along with rookie teammate Sal Stewart for that matter.
And with
five games left in a long, lost Reds season, what they're doing is pretty close to all that's worth paying attention to.
For what it means in the history those two are chasing in these final games.
And also for what it might mean as a starting point for a team desperately seeking hope for a long-shot rebound from the bottom of the standings next season.
De La Cruz, who's headed into his first winter of arbitration eligibility, is looking like a guy seeking an eight-figure deal and maybe even a first-year arb record.
Even before reaching base four times in this 4-0 victory over the Braves – including a single and pair of walks – on this night against the Braves, he ranked fourth in the majors in fangraphs.com WAR for non-pitchers and ninth in the majors with an .881 WAR.
Since the All-Star break, that OPS was .935.
And over the previous one-month period entering the week, he was No. 1 in the majors in both categories (2.2 WAR and 1.158). And No. 1 in batting along the way: .388 for that month.
Reds manager Terry Francona gets reminded by the media every day or two about some of the individual milestones his players are pursuing now that they’ve been eliminated from the relevant team pursuits.
That would include Stewart’s pursuit of the Rookie of the Year award and the rare RBI crown for a rookie that he’s chasing. Only Boston’s Walt Dropo (1950) and Ted Williams (1939) have done that as rookies since the RBI became an official stat in 1920.
It also includes Eugenio Suárez's career home run count. When he hit the third of the game for the Reds on Tuesday night it was the 350th of his career. He's the 10th active major leaguer with 350.
But Francona’s not paying a lot of attention to all that stuff, he said.
“I want our guys to always do the best they can,” the manager said. “Obviously, I want Sal to win some awards and things like that. But I don’t get too caught up in the rest of that stuff. Just try to be consistent and play the game right.
“You start looking at other stuff and you start veering off playing the game right.”
To Francona’s point: De La Cruz clowned with teammate Suárez when the third baseman was camped under a foul popup by Ozzie Albies leading off the bottom of the seventh — not the first time he’s done that with Suárez or Matt McLain before that or Jonathan India before that (causing an error on the latter).
De La Cruz crowded Suárez and caught the ball, a bad look – however playful – for a big-leaguer, never mind a big-leaguer on a last-place team.
Maybe that’s just so much nit-picking for a two-time All-Star, and one of the most dynamic players in the game, who is about to finish off the best year of a career that is only getting batter.
If he gets to 30-30 he’ll join a list of Reds that only includes mentors Eric Davis (1987) and Barry Larkin (1996), and Brandon Phillips (2007).
“Again, do it in the course of playing the game right,” Francona said. “That’s what I care about.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Chase is on for Elly De La Cruz 30-30, Sal Stewart rookie milestones
