TORONTO — Elly De La Cruz made Reds history Friday night. But as has been the case many times this year, the bullpen couldn't make it hold up as Toronto scored four runs in the seventh inning to erase Cincinnati’s three-run lead and beat the Reds 6-5 at Rogers Centre.
Cincinnati fell to 74-86 despite collecting 12 hits and leading 5-2 through six innings. De La Cruz drove in two runs and stole his 30th base of the season, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to produce at least 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same year.
Toronto jumped on Nick Lodolo in the first inning. Alejandro Kirk doubled home Charles McAdoo, and Kazuma Okamoto followed with another RBI double for a 2-0 lead. Eugenio Suárez answered in the second with his 26th home run, a 380-foot drive to left that cut the deficit in half.
The Reds took control with four runs in the third. Oswaldo Cabrera and Carlos Jorge scored on De La Cruz’s double, and De La Cruz stole third before coming home on Sal Stewart’s single. Héctor Rodríguez then grounded into a force out that scored Stewart and made it 5-2.
De La Cruz finished 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. His 30th steal placed him alongside Eric Davis in 1987, Barry Larkin in 1996 and Brandon Phillips in 2007 as the only Reds to reach the 30/30 mark. That is excellent company, even if the rest of the evening did not cooperate.
Lodolo settled down after the rough first inning and kept Toronto scoreless over his next four frames. He allowed two runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts in five innings, leaving the Reds in position to win.
That position disappeared quickly in the seventh. Luis Mey walked Andrés Giménez and Kirk before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled home a run. George Springer then reached on a fielder’s choice and an error by Cabrera, loading the bases with nobody out.
Pierce Johnson replaced Mey, but Okamoto greeted him with a two-run double that tied the game. Nathan Lukes followed with a single through the left side to score Springer and give Toronto its first lead since the second inning. Mey was charged with four runs, three earned, and took the loss.
Cincinnati never answered. Rodríguez singled to begin the eighth, but the Reds could not move him beyond first base. Louis Varland worked a perfect ninth for his 35th save, striking out Carlos Jorge and Stewart to finish Toronto’s comeback.
What’s Next
The Reds and Blue Jays continue their season-ending series Saturday at 3:07 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre.
