The Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds played a wild game on Monday, April 8. Hours after a beautiful solar eclipse turned Great American Ballpark dark for a period of time, Elly De La Cruz left fans speechless by setting a record that had not been completed during the statcast era.
Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz crushed a 450 foot home run off Milwaukee Brewers pitcher JB Bukauskas
After going up 8-0 and chasing Milwaukee’s starting pitcher Aaron Ashby out of the game, Elly De La Cruz mashed a mammoth home run off JB Bukauskas in the fifth inning. The Brewers had just shown some signs of life by scoring three runs in the top of the fifth, but De La Cruz countered with a breath taking home run that traveled 450 feet to dead center field.
Elly De La Cruz goes 450 FEET to dead center for his first homer of the season! 😳pic.twitter.com/FwXGCz9m23
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 9, 2024
Later in the game Elly De La Cruz homered again, but this time it was an inside the park home run.
Fast forward to the seventh inning and Milwaukee suddenly had turned the game into a one run affair. Elly De La Cruz then added an insurance run as he capitalized on Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick whiffing on a ball that he hit into center field. It took De La Cruz just 14.96 seconds to go from home-to-home and he would have been faster had he not been watching the baseball on his way to first base.
Elly De La Cruz just went home-to-home in 14.96 SECONDS! pic.twitter.com/pTgIYsbPgj
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 9, 2024
During the statcast era no other player has had a 450 foot home run and an inside the park home run in the same game.
Per Jason Bernard Elly De La Cruz is the first player with a 450 foot home run and an inside the park home run in the same game. This baseball history is true from the start of the statcast era (2015) and on.
ELLY DE LA CRUZ IS THE FIRST PLAYER WITH A 450+ FT HOME RUN *AND* AN INSIDE-THE-PARK HOME RUN IN THE SAME GAME UNDER STATCAST (2015)
h/t the wizard @JasonBernard_ https://t.co/XSjfyUilni
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 9, 2024
The Brewers and Reds will play their second of four games tomorrow with the first pitch scheduled for 6:40 PM ET.
