09/22/26 08:56:00
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09/22 20:55 CDT De La Cruz closes in on 30-30, Williamson throws six sharp
innings as Reds blank Braves 4-0
De La Cruz closes in on 30-30, Williamson throws six sharp innings as Reds
blank Braves 4-0
By PAUL NEWBERRY
Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) --- Elly De La Cruz closed in on a 30-30 season, Brandon
Williamson threw six sharp innings and the Cincinnati Reds blanked the NL East
champion Atlanta Braves 4-0 on Tuesday night.
De La Cruz got his 29th stolen base in the first inning and opened the scoring
with his 29th homer in the third. He tacked on a run-scoring single in the
seventh.
Dane Myers and Eugenio Surez also homered for Cincinnati. It was Surez's
350th career homer.
Braves slugger Ronald Acua Jr. left the game in the third after fouling a ball
off his left leg. He went down with a big grimace, hobbled out of the batting
circle and dropped to his knees again while attended to by manager Walt Weiss
and an athletic trainer for several minutes.
X-rays were negative and Acua was listed as day-to-day, a big relief for the
Braves with the playoffs just a week away.
Williamson (5-4) permitted just three hits, with no walks and two strikeouts
over his 68-pitch outing. He didn't allow a runner past first base --- an
unlikely performance from a pitcher who has largely struggled during an
injury-plagued season and worked out of the bullpen in his last three
appearances for the last-place Reds.
Brock Burke, Tejay Antone and Emilio Pagn worked a scoreless inning apiece to
finish the seven-hitter.
De La Cruz hit a two-out shot into the right-field seats on a 2-0 pitch from
Braves rookie JR Ritchie (1-4), who took the loss despite allowing just one run
while recording a career-best eight strikeouts in five innings.
De La Cruz has a chance in the final week of the regular season to become only
the fourth player in Reds history to reach the 30-30 club after Eric Davis
(1987), Barry Larkin (1996) and Brandon Phillips (2007).
The Braves clinched their seventh NL East title in nine years on Sunday. They
are likely to host a best-of-three series against the lowest-seeded wild card
next week.
Up next
Atlanta LHP Chris Sale (14-9, 2.18 ERA) is set to make his final start before
the playoffs when he goes Wednesday night against Reds LHP Andrew Abbott (6-11,
4.70).
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