Elly De La Cruz homered, tripled and singled and drove in three runs as the Cincinnati Reds beat the visiting New York Yankees 6-1 in the opener of a three-game set on Monday night.
De La Cruz atoned for a pair of defensive miscues by falling just a double shy of his second career cycle. De La Cruz topped off his memorable night with his 18th homer, an opposite-field shot to right in the eighth inning. Gavin Lux added a solo homer for the Reds.
Cincinnati reliever Scott Barlow (3-0) relieved starter Nick Lodolo with one out in the fifth and retired all five batters he faced to earn the win.
Aaron Judge belted a 398-foot homer to the upper deck in left, his 28th of the season, while Cody Bellinger doubled twice and had three hits for the Yankees.
Following last year’s three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium, the Reds have beaten the Yankees four straight times, the longest such streak in the series since Cincinnati swept the 1976 World Series.
Barlow entered in the fifth after Lodolo labored through 94 pitches on a sweltering night on the Ohio River, where the temperature was 92 degrees at first pitch and the heat index neared 100 degrees.
Lodolo allowed one run on six hits, striking out six and walking none. The Cincinnati lefty surrendered Judge’s homer with two outs in the first.
Starter Allan Winans (0-1) made his Yankees debut and cruised early, needing just 24 pitches to get through three innings. Winans, who was 7-0 with New York’s Triple-A club in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, was called up to make the start after Ryan Yarbrough went on the injured list with a right oblique strain.
Winans, charged with four runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings, came undone in the fourth as De La Cruz lined a triple over the head of center fielder Bellinger for a run-scoring triple to tie the game at 1-1. Spencer Steer followed with a sacrifice fly to left to put Cincinnati ahead 2-1.
Gavin Lux then hooked a pitch from Winans inside the foul pole in right for his fourth homer and a 3-1 lead. De La Cruz singled in a run in the fifth and Jose Trevino hit an RBI single in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
