Miami has an Elly De La Cruz problem.
The Marlins, who will play host to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday in the third game of a four-contest series, have had a terrible time pitching to De La Cruz.
Cincinnati has won both games so far in this series, and De La Cruz is 8-for-10 with five RBIs, five runs, four doubles and two homers.
“It’s fun to watch him every day,” Reds manager David Bell said. “His teammates love him. He’s a great person, and he continues to work to get better.”
De La Cruz, a 6-foot-5 shortstop with tremendous power and speed, also has impressed Marlins manager Skip Schumaker.
In fact, Schumaker on Tuesday compared De La Cruz to Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr., who broke into the majors as a shortstop.
“Elly is a special player — the size, the speed, the strength, the power,” Schumaker said. “He’s just a freak. You don’t see that. The game is slow to him.
“Anything we throw up there — off-speed or with any life — he is hitting. We have to figure out a different way to attack him, and we have tried different ways. But he’s still hitting.”
Besides De La Cruz, the Reds have some other hot hitters. Tyler Stephenson, who went deep on Tuesday in Cincinnati’s 8-2 win, has slugged eight homers over his past 22 games.
“He’s a good young catcher,” Schumaker said of Stephenson, who has hit a career-high 14 homers this year. “The Reds have a good, young lineup with some veterans in between. They get good at-bats up and down the lineup.
“They are a tough matchup because they also run the bases well, and they are coached well.”
The Marlins, who are tied for the second-worst record in the majors, are just 22-36 at home.
Meanwhile, the Reds on Tuesday pulled their road record even at 27-27.
The Wednesday pitching matchup features Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott (9-8, 3.41 ERA) against Marlins rookie right-hander Valente Bellozo (0-1, 4.20).
Abbott, 25, was Cincinnati’s second-round pick out of the University of Virginia in 2021.
He has faced the Marlins just once, and it didn’t go well. He lasted just 3 1/3 innings on July 13, giving up five runs on seven hits, though he escaped with a no-decision.
This season, the Reds are 12-10 when Abbott starts. He won four consecutive starts from June 21 to July 8, posting a 1.88 ERA. Since then, he is 0-2 with two no-decisions and a 5.40 ERA.
Bellozo, a 24-year-old native of Mexico, made his major league debut on June 26. He has pitched exactly five innings in each of his three starts, and the Marlins have lost all three games. He has yet to oppose the Reds.
In his most recent outing, Bellozo yielded two runs on two hits and two walks with five strikeouts in a no-decision at Atlanta on Friday.
The Marlins acquired Bellozo from the Houston Astros on April 6. Just last year, he spent the majority of the season in Class-A baseball.
–Field Level Media