Elly De La Cruz tripled and hit a home run in his first game at Yankee Stadium, helping the Cincinnati Reds defeat New York 5-4 on Tuesday night despite Aaron Judge’s league-leading 32nd home run.
Will Benson and De La Cruz both hit two-run homers in the fifth inning, giving the Reds a 5-0 lead over the struggling Yankees, who have lost 11 of their last 15 games.
“I feel very proud,” De La Cruz said. “The people from the Dominican Republic, they’re watching me here at Yankee Stadium.”
Judge homered in the seventh inning off Sam Moll, marking his third hit of the game. He leads the majors in batting average (.321), home runs, and RBIs (83).
“I’m going to have to find more words because I’ve used up all the other adjectives,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone joked.
De La Cruz, playing in his 183rd major league game, has now tripled and homered in the same game five times, matching Ted Williams for the most since 1901 within a player’s first 185 games.
“Some players thrive in big moments,” Reds manager David Bell said. “And he’s just getting started. There will be even bigger moments and stages for him.”
Graham Ashcraft pitched a shutout until the Yankees scored three runs in the sixth inning. He earned his third straight win. Alexis Díaz closed the game with a perfect ninth inning for his 18th save in 20 opportunities.
Rookie Luis Gil took the loss for the Yankees, his third straight defeat. He allowed four runs and two hits over four-plus innings, along with three walks and two hit batters.
“I wasn’t able to execute and mix my pitches in the fourth or fifth inning,” Gil said through a translator.
After starting the season 9-1 with a 2.03 ERA in his first 14 starts, Gil has struggled recently with a 0-3 record and a 14.90 ERA over his last three outings.
“I don’t think it’s fatigue,” Boone said. “I think he’s just a bit out of rhythm and having trouble making adjustments on the fly.”
Gil retired nine consecutive batters before De La Cruz led off the fourth inning with a triple into the right-field corner, his sixth triple of the season. De La Cruz then scored on Jeimer Candelario’s groundout on the next pitch.
