De La Cruz went 1-for-4 with a solo home run Thursday in a loss to the Cubs.
De La Cruz smashed a 424-foot blast on the first pitch of the contest for his second leadoff homer of the campaign. Of the rookie phenom's eight long balls this season, four have come over his past 10 games. However, De La Cruz struck out twice Thursday, and he's posted a massive 42 percent strikeout rate over 18 contests since the All-Star break. Despite De La Cruz's recent slump, Reds manager David Bell intends to leave him at leadoff, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The rookie, who was moved to leadoff 15 games ago, is slashing .203/.277/.407 atop the order.
