Teoscar Hernández continued to swing a hot bat in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, going 3-for-3 with a walk and RBI.
Hernández began his night with a two-out triple in the bottom of the third inning that he tried stretching into an inside-the-park home run. However, the Reds completed a strong relay after the ball got by Dane Myers on his diving attempt in center field and threw out Hernández at the plate.
“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.
After the ball got past Myers, JJ Bleday retrieved it and zipped it to Elly De La Cruz, who then fired a 102 mph throw to Jose Trevino to cut down Hernández trying to score and end the inning.
“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 noted that was the closest he ever came to scoring on an inside-the-park home run attempt at any level in his career.
De La Cruz’s throw was good for the fastest assist by an infielder in the Statcast era (since 2015). He held the previous record as well at 99.8 mph.
Despite being thrown out by De La Cruz, Hernández still reached base in all four of his plate appearances against the Reds and now has a nine-game hitting streak. He’s batting a stellar .426/.518/.660 over his last 56 trips to the plate and has been key to the Dodgers’ recent offensive resurgence.
Dave Roberts tips cap to Elly De La Cruz
Although Hernández came up short of an inside-the-park home run, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts couldn’t help but rave at De La Cruz’s throw.
“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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