Cincinnati Reds star shortstop Elly De La Cruz was once proclaimed the “most thrilling man in baseball” by Reds play-by-play voice John Sadak. And on Monday, De La Cruz found another way to amaze Sadak with a moonshot of a home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
De La Cruz came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning already in the midst of a great game, reaching base on a single and double in two of his three prior at-bats in the game.
The second-year star added to this already impressive performance in a massive way, taking Pirates reliever Daulton Jefferies deep on a 439-foot, two-run home run that reached the Riverboat Deck all the way atop the batter’s eye.
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On the call of the monstrous home run on Bally Sports Cincinnati, Sadak was in sheer disbelief about just how far and how high the blast from De La Cruz was hit.
“De LA Cruz unloads,” said Sadak. “High fly… Deep center… No doubt! He went to the steamboat! Atop the batter’s eye! No Mercy! Lark, a fan is holding the ball up on the boat!
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Reds color analyst Barry Larkin, who joined Sadak on the broadcast, was equally shocked.
“I was waiting for that ball to come down. And it just didn’t … My word,” said Larkin.
Simply put, you won’t find much more of a no-doubt home run than this from De La Cruz. But surprisingly, this isn’t even his longest home run of the season thus far. That honor dates back to a home run hit in the matchup on April 8 against the Milwaukee Brewers that went 450 feet off of J.B. Bukauskas.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.