De La Cruz joins exclusive 20/60 club with 60th steal of '24

TORONTO -- On the same night that one generational face of the Reds' franchise retired from baseball, the current one achieved a rare feat.

It took a little while, but shortstop Elly De La Cruz became one of the rare 20/60 players in Major League Baseball on Wednesday during an 11-7 victory over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

"It means a lot," said De La Cruz. "I’ve said before that that’s why I’m working the whole season. I feel so proud, so happy."

De La Cruz went 3-for-4 with a homer in the eighth inning and an easy steal of third base in the top of the fifth frame. Later in the fifth, he scored the tying run by beating the throw from shortstop with a slide into the plate after Tyler Stephenson grounded into a fielder's choice.

The steal made De La Cruz just the fifth AL/NL player since 1900 to hit at least 20 home runs and steal 60 bases in a season.

"It’s special watching him run the bases, play the game," Reds manager David Bell said. "At such a young age, [he's] doing everything he’s doing. But also the way he’s handling it, you wouldn’t know he reached a certain milestone. He was thrilled about the win."

Leading off the eighth inning, De La Cruz slugged his 22nd homer of the season with an opposite-field drive to left field.

"I was on deck, I had a perfect view of his home run, I was just kind of sitting there speechless," Stephenson said. "And TJ [Friedl] comes out and says …'What?' I’m like, 'How did that just happen?' It’s unbelievable what he can do day in and [day out]."

De La Cruz, who has zoomed his way past historical markers throughout his two-season big league career, joined Ronald Acu?a Jr. (2023), Eric Davis (1986), Rickey Henderson (1985-86, 1990), and Joe Morgan (1973, 1976) in the 20/60 club.

Like De La Cruz, Morgan and Davis achieved their feats while playing for Cincinnati.

That MLB-leading 60th steal ended a season-high 11-game drought without a swiped bag for De La Cruz. The longest such stretch of his career was 22 games in 2023.

That's partially because De La Cruz has been slumping, so there haven't been many opportunities to steal. Entering the night, he was 3-for-26 (.115) over his previous seven games.

Was De La Cruz tiring?

“I feel great," he said. "Ready to go."

De La Cruz's homer capped the biggest comeback win of the season for Cincinnati, which trailed 6-0 after three innings. It also helped the Reds take two of three in the series and improve their record to 62-65. They now sit 5 1/2 games back in the National League Wild Card race.

Toronto took its big lead against Reds starter Nick Martinez, who gave up a pair of first-inning home runs to George Springer and Spencer Horwitz and a third-inning three-run homer to Ernie Clement.

In the top of the fourth inning, De La Cruz was overaggressive and thrown out trying to stretch a leadoff single into a double.

"It's very easy in this game, when something doesn't go your way, to back off and become fearful," Bell said. "Especially after that play. But to continue to stay with it and continue to play our game, trust ourselves and not be afraid to fail, that was a big part of tonight's game."

De La Cruz was picked up with two outs in the fourth, when Spencer Steer hit a two-run homer to ignite the Reds' offense. After De La Cruz slid home to tie the game in the fifth, Cincinnati took the lead on a bases-loaded walk by Santiago Espinal that scored Stephenson.

Noelvi Marte and Jonathan India added back-to-back homers during a three-run sixth inning.

"I feel so happy with the team," De La Cruz said. "That’s us. We never give up. Down six, it doesn’t matter. We fight until the last out."