After a disheartening loss on Friday night to open the series up against Chicago, the Reds were able to get the job done on Saturday in game two. Elly De La Cruz drove in four runs for Cincinnati and Andrew Abbott kept up the dominant start to his 2025 season as the home team topped Chicago 6-4 to even the series up.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Cubs (31-21) | 4 | 11 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (26-27) | 6 | 9 | 0 |
| W: Abbott (4-0) L: Rea (3-1) SV: Pagan (13) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Reds didn’t take long to get on the board in the bottom of the 1st inning. Santiago Espinal worked a 9-pitch walk with one out and three pitches later Elly De La Cruz hit a ball into the seats in right-center to make it 2-0. Austin Hays followed up with a single and then Gavin Lux worked a walk, running Colin Rea’s pitch count up to 27 as Spencer Steer came to the plate. He struck out on four pitches and then Will Benson lined out to end the inning, but Rea was already at 35 pitches.
Chicago would get a run back in the top of the 3rd inning when Justin Turner led off the inning with his first home run of the season. Andrew Abbott gave up some more hard contact in the inning but got away without any further damage.
Cincinnati would get a run in the 4th inning after Gavin Lux led off with a double, took third base on a wild pitch, and then later scored on a sacrifice fly by Will Benson. That put the home team up 3-1 as the game moved into the 5th inning.
After the Cubs went quietly in their half of the 5th, the Reds went to work against Colin Rea. Back-to-back singles by TJ Friedl and Santiago Espinal to start the inning were followed by a wild pitch to set up Elly De La Cruz with two men in scoring position. He fell behind 1-2, but a splitter at the bottom of the zone was up just enough for him to line the ball past a drawn in infield for a 2-run hit that made it 5-1. After stealing second base, De La Cruz would come in to score the club’s 6th run of the day on a 2-out single up the middle by Spencer Steer – a hit that extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
Chicago would put some pressure on Andrew Abbott in the 6th inning. Kyle Tucker led off with a single into left and then Seiya Sukuki battled for a 9-pitch walk. The Reds lefty buckled down and got a ground out and a strikeout, but Cincinnati called to the bullpen at that point. Graham Ashcraft came on with runners on the corners and got a lazy fly ball to Will Benson in left field to strand both runners and hold onto the 5-run lead.
When Ashcraft returned for the 7th inning the Cubs offense went back to work. Carson Kelly led off the inning with a single and Matt Shaw blooped a double into right field with one out to put two runners in scoring position. Chicago got a run on a ground out to first base by Ian Happ to get the visitors within slam range. Ashcraft would get out of any further trouble with a strikeout of Kyle Tucker that ended the inning.
Seiya Suzuki led off the 8th inning with a double against Tony Santillan. He would come around to score on a sacrifice fly by Pete Crow-Armstrong that cut the lead down to 6-3. Holding onto a 3-run lead entering the 9th,
Emilio Pagan took the mound for Cincinnati to try and pick up the save. The first pitch he threw was lined off of the foul pole for a homer that made it 6-4. Matt Shaw came through with a 1-out double down the left field line to bring famed Reds-crusher Ian Happ to the plate as the tying run. Pagan, however, struck him out on three pitches. Three pitchers later saw Kyle Tucker fly out harmlessly to right field to end the game with a Reds victory.
Key Moment of the Game
Elly De La Cruz coming through with a 2-run single in the 5th inning to turn a 3-1 game into a 5-1 game.
Notes Worth Noting
Andrew Abbott now has an ERA of 1.77 on the season in 40.2 innings pitched through his eight starts.
Elly De La Cruz drove in four runs. It was the 4th time this season he drove in at least four runs in a game. He had four RBI against Houston on May 11th, four against Pittsburgh on April 12th, and seven against Texas on March 31st.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday, May 25th, 1:40pm ET
Ben Brown (3-3, 5.44 ERA) vs Nick Lodolo (4-4, 3.22 ERA)
The post Elly De La Cruz drives in four as Reds top Cubs on Saturday appeared first on Redleg Nation.