The Rockies intentionally walked Elly De La Cruz three times. Here's how it worked

Yahoo

12-07-2025

The Colorado Rockies aren't the first team to intentionally walk Elly De La Cruz, but they did become the first team to effectively avoid his turn in the Cincinnati Reds' lineup three times in one game.
For the first time in De La Cruz's career, he was intentionally walked three times in a single game. He became the third player in Reds history to take three automatic passes in one game since intentional walks became a stat in 1955, joining Tucker Barnhart and Eric Davis on the shortlist, according to the Reds.
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Including a first-inning at-bat in which the count ran full, De La Cruz walked four times − also a career first.
The only time the Rockies allowed De La Cruz to make contact and put a ball in play? A sinking, line-drive hit eluded a diving Jordan Beck in left field. De La Cruz cruised into third base with his third triple of the year.
De La Cruz is an All-Star again. He's hitting .282 with 18 homers, 63 RBI (that's the 14th-most in baseball) and a top-25 OPS in baseball (No. 23 in MLB at .853). When teams take the bat out of his hand, the burden to produce runs is redistributed down the lineup. The burden proved too difficult for a night as the Reds dropped their Friday, July 11, series opener to the Rockies, 3-2, at Great American Ball Park.
Cincinnati Reds outfielder TJ Friedl (29) hits a RBI in the seventh inning of a MLB game between the Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies, Friday, July 11, 2025, at Great American Ball Park in Downtown Cincinnati. Rockies won 3-2.
The Reds left 11 runners on base in the game and five of those were in scoring position.
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A disproportionate amount of the burden for offensive production fell to left fielder Austin Hays, who followed De La Cruz in the batting order. After each intentional walk, Hays struck out to end an inning or, in the ninth inning, the game. He accounted for five runners left in scoring position.
"You can see why we tried to protect Elly as much as we could," Reds manager Terry Francona said. "Austin had a tough night tonight. We'll take him in that situation all the rest of the year, believe me."
Hays hadn't struck out four times in a game since Sept. 10, 2023
Hays is hitting .269 on the season. He leads the club, and even the speedy De La Cruz, in triples (four). He's been a lineup-lengthening catalyst for the Reds, including in the win Thursday, July 10, and Hays' 0-for-5 night at the plate Friday was his first of that kind since the 2023 season.
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Hays and the rest of the Reds faced some good pitching. Along with allowing a lone run via a Noelvi Marte home run, Rockies starter Germán Marquez had a season-high eight strikeouts. The Reds struck out 13 times in total.
When Colorado reliever Jake Bird allowed the game-tying run in the seventh inning, the Rockies infield played in and prevented a go-ahead run from crossing on a Matt McLain grounder.
In the ninth inning, Rockies closer Victor Vodnik pumped fastballs at the Reds, and plenty of them as he needed 27 pitches to earn his save. Hays fouled off Vodnik's fastest of the night − a 101.4 mph heater − to keep the Reds alive for another pitch.
The seventh and final pitch of the at-bat was a slider at 12mph slower than the one that preceded it. Hays swung through it. Ball game over, but he wasn't solely to blame.
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"Marquez was mixing in more of his arsenal all throughout and that last guy (Vodnik), he got a lot of us to 3-2 (counts)," Friedl said. "He's a fastball-heavy guy. Went to his secondary in a lot of 3-2 counts. Just balanced arsenal, kept us off-balance. They've got a lot of good (velocity) there. We know that. They're a velo-heavy team, and just kind of kept us off-balance with the off-speed."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Elly De La Cruz was intentionally walked three times by the Rockies