Elly De La Cruz and the Cincinnati Reds opened their four-game series with the visiting Milwaukee Brewers in thrilling fashion Monday. Now they hope to continue that momentum Tuesday.
The Reds built an 8-0 lead after four innings and then had to rely on two home runs from De La Cruz, including an inside-the-park homer, to fend off the Brewers, 10-8. The Brewers had scored three in the fifth, three in the sixth and two more in the seventh to close to within one.
Then De La Cruz ran around the bases for his first career inside-the-park homer and the game changed back in Cincinnati’s favor.
“It was an exciting play and all that, but it was a big run in that game because there’s no question, you can feel it, momentum, and they had it at that point,” Reds manager David Bell said. “And that slows it up just enough to where our bullpen was able to hold them off from there.”
The Brewers won 10 of the 13 meetings between the two in 2023, including six of seven in Cincinnati, as the Reds missed the postseason by just two games. Even with Monday’s loss, Milwaukee is still 35-15 in their last 50 games in Cincinnati since 2018.
The expectations were raised in the offseason for the Reds, who hope to replace their division rival Brewers atop the NL Central.
“We’ve put in a lot of work and we’re ready to go to the World Series,” De La Cruz said after Monday’s game.
The Brewers, with first-year manager Pat Murphy, won six of their first eight games before opening a seven-game road trip Monday on a losing note. After three more games in Cincinnati, Milwaukee plays three games in Baltimore.
Despite the eight-run hole and three errors that led to four unearned runs, the Brewers were within one heading into the bottom of the seventh.
“There’s no question, I like the guys in the room,” Murphy said. “I like the way they respond. That’s a good team across the way. You can’t give them that much rope. We really have played incredible defense up until this point. We didn’t have a good night there. That’s going to happen. We put ourselves in position to come back. It just wasn’t enough.”
The Reds send right-hander Frankie Montas (2-0, 0.77 ERA) to the mound in the second game of the series. Montas has allowed just one run on nine hits in 11 2/3 innings in his first two starts with Cincinnati.
Montas allowed one run on five hits over 5 2/3 innings last Wednesday in Philadelphia, earning his second straight win.
Montas is facing Milwaukee for just the second time in his career. In his only other career appearance — Sept. 16, 2022 — Montas allowed four runs on four hits over 3 1/3 innings, walking four and striking out two and receiving a no-decision in Milwaukee’s 7-6 win over the Yankees.
The Brewers counter with right-hander Joe Ross (0-0, 0.00), making his second start of the season.
Last Wednesday, Ross made his Milwaukee debut vs. Minnesota. In a 7-3 loss to the Twins, he received pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits but walking five with three strikeouts in the no-decision.
In four career starts against Cincinnati, Ross is 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA. All four starts came with Washington and took place at Nationals Park.
