Blue Jays drop series opener to Reds and visiting sophomore phenom Elly De La Cruz

Elly De La Cruz has finally made it to Toronto, but people who came to see the most electrifying young player in the game were denied the full experience in his first career appearance at Rogers Centre.
The 22-year-old Dominican didn’t get a chance to show off his rare combination of power, speed and pure athleticism as his Cincinnati Reds dropped the Blue Jays 6-3 in the opener of a three-game series.
De La Cruz took the collar for the third time in four career games against the Jays, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a sacrifice fly that tied the game 2-2 in the top of the third. Former Jay Santiago Espinal, who had doubled after taking a second to doff his cap in acknowledgement of a nice ovation from the crowd of 25,603, scored on the sac fly.
But that fly ball wasn’t anything especially special, coming off the bat at just 84.2 miles per hour. A lazy fly that was deep enough to score the runner, but nothing more than that.
By the time De La Cruz finally reached base, leading off the seventh with a four-pitch walk against Brendon Little, the Reds had already built a 6-2 lead and the only drama remaining was in whether he would try to steal second base (and then maybe third and home, something he did as a rookie last July in Milwaukee).
De La Cruz currently sits at 21 home runs and 59 stolen bases (having been caught a dozen times). The sophomore sensation is trying to become the fifth player in major-league history to record at least 20 homers and 60 steals in a single season and just the second since 1990.
He didn’t take off on the first pitch, though, and Tyler Stephenson hit it on the ground to shortstop, where Ernie Clement started a 6-4-3 double play.
Defensively, De La Cruz only had three balls hit his way and only had to throw two of them to first base. We didn’t get to see the huge arm that has uncorked a throw as hard as 99.8 miles per hour as he retired Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to end the seventh and George Springer to end the game, both on routine grounders.
It promises to be a good time should De La Cruz put on a show in one of the two remaining games of the series, though he’d have to break out of his current 5-for-40 slump to do it.
If he doesn’t, the Jays will consider themselves lucky.
“You’re talking about (one) of the elite-type talents in this league,” said Jays’ associate manager DeMarlo Hale before the game, putting De La Cruz in the same company as superstars like Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Guerrero. “You get caught looking at (him) and you’ve got to snap yourself and say, ‘hey, I’m not a fan, I’m an opponent, trying to beat him.’ ”