Elly De La Cruz Homers Twice as Reds Split Opening Games of Spring Training

What a start!

Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz hits a homer in the first inning of a Cactus League game between the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Ariz. / Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Spring training games officially got underway on Saturday for the Reds.

They defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 in game one and they blew a late lead in game two, falling to the Brewers 8-7.

Here are our takeaways from both games:

Elly De La Cruz Starts With a Bang

Elly De La Cruz hit a towering home run in his first at-bat of the spring, but he wasn't done. In his second at-bat, De La Cruz sent a ball 409 feet for his second homer—this time from the right side of the plate. Those were De La Cruz's only two at-bats of the day and you could not have asked for a batter start to the spring for the young Reds' superstar.

Good Pitching from the Reds' Regulars

Hunter Greene gave up a two-run home run in the first inning, but he was happy with his performance overall. He threw a lot of strikes and his secondary stuff was really working. Greene gave up four hits and struck out three.

Connor Phillips followed Greene was two scoreless innings. Phillips walked two batters, did not allow a hit, and struck out a batter.

Taylor Rogers surrendered two hits but got out of the jam with his second strikeout of the innings.

Ian Gibaut pitched gave up one hit in his scoreless inning of work.

Graham Ashcraft looked impressive in game two against the Brewers. He tossed two scoreless innings, surrendering one hit.

Reds prospect Chase Petty followed Ashcraft with two scoreless innings himself. He did not allow a hit, walked a batter, and struck out one.

Luis Mey struck out two batters in his scoreless inning of work.

Hard Hit Balls

The Reds hit the ball harder than the numbers showed. Although the numbers show Matt McLain went 0-for-2, he hit two balls that just missed leaving the yard.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand went 1-for-2 and his line-out was hit over 107 mph.

As mentioned above, De La Cruz hit a home run from both sides of the plate with both balls being hit over 106 mph.

Will Benson went 0-1, but had a positive at-bat, lining out on a 103.5 mph missile against a left-handed pitcher.

Spencer Steer went 0-2, but both balls were hit over 100 mph.

Santiago Espinal hit a home run.

Gavin Lux enjoyed a two-hit day in his first game as a Red, going 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI.

TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley, and Jose Trevino all had a hit.

Up Next

The Reds face the Giants on Sunday at 3:05 p.m.

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