Teoscar Hernández kept his blistering stretch rolling in the Dodgers’ 3-2 win over the Reds on Tuesday, and he nearly turned one of his biggest swings of the night into an inside-the-park home run.
Instead, Cincinnati’s defense made him pay for pushing the envelope.
Hernández opened his evening with a two-out triple in the bottom of the third and tried to take it the extra step. The ball got past Dane Myers on his diving attempt in center field, but the Reds recovered fast enough to cut him down at the plate and keep him from scoring.
“I ran hard from the beginning. I see him miss the ball.
I knew I got a chance to score, but around third base, it was just out. But unfortunately, I didn’t score,” Hernández said of the attempt.
JJ Bleday tracked down the loose ball and sent it to Elly De La Cruz, who unleashed a 105.3 mph throw to Jose Trevino to nail Hernández and end the inning. Hernández knew exactly how special that sequence was.
“I think he’s the only one who can throw me out in that situation,” Hernández said of De La Cruz. “Him or somebody close to him to have the strength in his arm. But you know, we got to respect that.”
Hernández said it was the closest he had ever come to scoring on an inside-the-park home run attempt at any level in his career.
Even with the out at the plate, Hernández still reached safely in all four of his plate appearances against Cincinnati and extended his hitting streak to nine games. Over his last 56 trips to the plate, he’s hitting .426/.518/.660 and has been a major part of the Dodgers’ recent offensive surge.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also tipped his cap to De La Cruz after watching the play unfold.
“Yeah, you know, I had a good feeling,” Roberts said of Hernández’s attempt. “As a fan, it was fun to see Elly throw the baseball 105 miles an hour, too.
You don’t see that every night. A guy hitting the ball 400 feet and throwing 105 miles an hour, I put my fan cap on for that tonight.”
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