CINCINNATI — TJ Friedl hit a three-run homer on a four-hit night, rookie Elly De La Cruz added a solo shot and the Cincinnati Reds extended their winning streak to 10 games with an 8-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
“I remember what it was like to lose a game,” Friedl said. “That’s why we’re trying to stay as far away from it as possible.”
Will Benson had a solo homer in the sixth, helping the NL Central-leading Reds to their longest winning streak since 2012, when they also won 10 straight. They last won 11 straight in 1940, the year they won the World Series.
De La Cruz had three hits as fans chanted, “Elly! Elly!”
“We’re very appreciative of the opportunity we have,” Reds manager David Bell said. “We’ve experienced what that feels like and we want to keep it going. What great crowds we’ve had the last two nights; that means a lot to our team.”
Jorge Alfaro‘s three-run homer in the eighth, which bounced off the top of the fence in center, couldn’t keep the Rockies from their seventh straight loss.
The Reds scored two runs in the fifth with the help of three throwing errors by Colorado right-hander Peter Lambert, two on attempted pickoffs at second.
Nolan Jones hit a solo homer off of Cincinnati right-hander Ben Lively in the first, setting up the Reds for their National League-best 25th come-from-behind win.
Lively allowed a season-high four walks and gave up three hits and two runs with four strikeouts in four innings.
Alex Young (2-0), the second of six Cincinnati pitchers, faced the minimum three batters in the fifth for the victory. Alexis Diaz allowed a run before escaping a bases-loaded jam with a whiff of Alfari for his 20th save in 20 opportunities.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “That’s what our guys do. We don’t stop. Everything in the dugout points to the next inning, the next at-bat.”
Friedl followed back-to-back two-out walks by Benson and Curt Casali, the eighth and ninth batters in Cincinnati’s lineup, with a drive into the first row of the right-field seats off right-hander Noah Davis in the second.
“I just wasn’t able to execute pitches there,” Davis said. “Bottom of the lineup coming up with two outs, you’ve got to get it over and make them force the action, so that’s a mistake on my part.”
The switch-hitting De La Cruz went opposite field to left in the third for his second homer since being called up June 6. Spencer Steer added an RBI double in the inning.
The speedy De La Cruz reached in the fifth with a single off the body of Lambert, who threw the ball away after collecting it. De La Cruz went to third on an errant pickoff try and scored on Jake Fraley‘s double.
Davis (0-2) also set a season high with four walks.