Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz Makes Baseball History with July 4th Performance

The Cincinnati Reds beat the Washington Nationals on July 4 and Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz was right in the middle of it.

The Cincinnati Reds beat the Washington Nationals on Tuesday by a score of 8-4 and rookie Elly De La Cruz was right in the middle of it.

The young phenom went 4-4 with a run scored and an RBI in the victory and that performance earned him a special slice of baseball history.

Per ESPN Stats & Info:

Elly De La Cruz is the first player age 21 or younger to have two 4-hit games within his first 25 MLB games since Luis Rivas in 2000-01. 

He is the first player age 21 or younger with 4 hits on the #4thofJuly since Bobby Doerr (BOS) in 1939.

Elly De La Cruz is the first player age 21 or younger to have two 4-hit games within his first 25 MLB games since Luis Rivas in 2000-01.

He is the first player age 21 or younger with 4 hits on the #4thofJuly since Bobby Doerr (BOS) in 1939. pic.twitter.com/QFScXWfIDW

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 4, 2023

Being the first player in baseball to accomplish something in more than 20 years? And being the first player to do something in baseball in more than 80 years? Not a bad day at the office for De La Cruz, who is one of the centerpieces of the Reds rebuild.

He's hitting .308 since being called up with three homers, 13 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He's posted an OPS of .838 as well.

In addition to his performance, the Reds got two home runs from Jonathan India in the win, and also got a four-hit day from Spencer Steer.

With the win, the Reds are now 47-39 on the season. At the time of this posting, they are 0.5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.

The Reds and Nationals will play again on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET.

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