Scenes from the ballpark as the Reds beat the Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball

CHICAGO — Before the Cincinnati Reds faced the Chicago Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball, Joey Votto had a message for Elly De La Cruz. A few hours later, with Votto on the NBC call for Sunday Night Baseball, Votto shared that message with the national television audience.

“I want you to watch (Pete Crow-Armstrong) today,” Votto told De La Cruz, which he shared during the first inning of a game broadcast. “When PCA gets these MVP chants, that’s going to be Elly De La Cruz in 2027. And I think he’s motivated… He has every single tool identical to PCA. He has not tapped into his full potential. His full potential is best player in baseball.”

De La Cruz appreciated hearing that from his former teammate.

“It meant a lot,” De La Cruz said after the game. “He knows the game. He played the game. He was a great hitter. Great player. It means a lot.”

In their season as teammates, De La Cruz learned several lessons from the future Hall of Famer.

“Play the game the right way,” De La Cruz said. “Show up for the guys every single day.”

He knows what he’s capable of. Votto reminded everyone what De La Cruz’s ceiling looks like as Votto described the Reds’ shortstop on the broadcast.

De La Cruz said his next step is being consistent: “That’s what you’ve got to do,” he said.

He exited the game on Sunday with left quad tightness, and Francona pointed to a moment where De La Cruz beat a throw to first base. Francona said that they’ll need to get De La Cruz looked at, but early indications were positive.

‘I don’t think it’s very bad,” Francona said. “Me and Freddie kind of double-teamed him about coming out. There’s a chance he plays tomorrow or DH’s tomorrow. We need to get him looked at.”

De La Cruz also spoke positively about his prognosis.

“It’s good,” he said. “Just a little bit tight.”

***
In the Reds’ clubhouse on Sunday afternoon, a few players were talking about Knicks star Jalen Brunson. Sal Stewart was in the middle of the conversation.

“I said, ‘If I go deep, I’ll do the Brunson,’” Stewart shared after the game.

Brunson’s signature celebration is a specific hand motion where he sticks out his thumb and two fingers.

Typically, Stewart said, he does the celebrations of different soccer players. “It’s funny how (my teammates) laugh when they see which one I choose.”

On Sunday, Stewart honored the NBA champion in Brunson.

“I did it, and the boys loved it,” Stewart said.

The NL Rookie of the Year favorite has a lot of respect for the Knicks point guard.

“He has overcome so much adversity,” Stewart said. “When he could have taken the most money, he actually declined it and took less so he could put out the best team he could. I feel like that’s really cool.”

In 2024, according to ESPN, Brunson signed a long-term extension with the Knicks. He took $113 million less than he could have (below the max salary) on a a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension. The extra cap space allowed the Knicks to keep their core (Bridges, Anunoby, etc) together.

Stewart’s called shot on Sunday was his 31st homer of the season. His 105 RBI this season are the most by any Reds batter since Jay Bruce (109 in 2013), and it’s not even September yet.

“He’s incredible,” Chase Burns said. “Ridiculous. I tell him every day.”

***
Terry Francona said about Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong, “The first time we were in here, he was hitting ninth. Remember that? Now, they want to hit him first, second and third.”

Crow-Armstrong was hitting .237 with a .667 OPS when the Reds faced the Cubs in early May. Now, after a two-homer game against the Reds on Sunday, he has the second-best OPS in MLB (.954) and has the second-most homers in the league (38). He’s also the best defender and the base runner in baseball.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a 9 WAR before,” Francona said. “You’ve got a premium defensive position, a guy hitting like he’s hitting and he’s hitting lefties better than he’s hitting righties.”

The Reds got very well familiar this weekend with how scary PCA has been over the last four months.

“He’s a pretty good talent, man,” Francona said.

***

Francona pointed out postgame that everyone is talking about what the plan is going to be for Chase Burns down the stretch as the Reds keep an eye on his innings. What gets overlooked is what he’s doing now.

“He has held his stuff all year,” Francona said. “That’s a big credit to that kid and his work ethic. We sat him down in the spring — it’s not a knock on him, he had just never been through it before.”

Burns’ stuff looked like it was in midseason form on Sunday. He allowed just two earned runs in 5 ⅔ innings, recorded a terrific rate of whiffs with his slider and saw his fastball velocity tick up.

Back in spring training, Burns went through a “dead load situation” where the Reds scaled back his work for a short period of time. That’s when the Reds sat him down.

“He took it to heart,” Francona said. “If it’s not, he would have run out of gas.”

Burns knew that he was feeling good as he warmed up in the bullpen.

“You can tell before the game,” Burns said. “It helps that this environment was electric. I had a lot of fun out there.”

In front of a packed crowd in a great ballpark, Burns showed the pitcher he has been all season. His night ended with an incredible 11-pitch battle with second baseman Pedro Ramirez with one out in the sixth inning. The at-bat went 11 pitches.

“Given the situation and where the game was at, it was going to be his last batter,” Tyler Stephenson said. “Feeling whatever he could throw a strike with. Sure enough, he got him to pop up. Challenge him. He did a good job of throwing strikes in that situation.”

Burns threw a 98.3 mph fastball over the plate on the 11th pitch, and Ramirez flew out to left field. That was the end of Burns’ night with him at 100 pitches and a lefty due up.

It was another memorable moment and another memorable victory.

“He was pretty good,” Francona said.

***
The biggest swing of the game came from rookie Héctor Rodríguez, who made an adjustment recently that has helped him flip the script at the plate.

Rodríguez has started visualizing his at-bats ahead of time.

“When the pitcher is warming up, I’m visualizing his pitches and what I want to hit,” Rodríguez said via interpreter Tomás Vera. “It’s concentration and choosing the pitches I want to hit, and making sure I make good contact.”

On Sunday, Rodríguez hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning that turned a 2-0 deficit into a three-run lead.

Entering this road trip, he was hitting .118 with a .336 OPS through his first 12 big league games. On this road trip, he has 10 hits and four homers in the seven games he has played.

“I told you guys,” Stewart said.

Maybe no one in the Reds’ organization has been hyping up Rodríguez over the last few years more than Stewart. They grew up through the Minor Leagues together.

“He’s coming,” Stewart said. “He’s going to keep getting better. I’m happy that he’s up there with us.”

Rodríguez’s emergence offensively also coincides with Francona putting him in the leadoff spot when the Reds face righties, which began last Wednesday in San Francisco.

“He built my confidence,” said Rodríguez, who hit two homers in that game on Wednesday.

He’s still rounding out his game. Rodríguez struck out twice on pitches that he chased way out of the zone on Sunday, and a throwing error cost the Reds a run. He’s still struggling with the breaking ball. Rodríguez needs to be more consistent.

But there are signs.

“He’s dangerous right now,” Francona said. “He got a ball up and he whacked it. It’s interesting. He’s ultra-aggressive. That’s ok. We don’t need nine guys that are going to walk. I’m not sure you want nine guys who are ultra-aggressive. If he is who he is and swings at strikes and he does damage, the kid is pretty interesting.”

Rodríguez said that the biggest lessons that he has learned in his first month in the big leagues are the importance of concentration, the importance of listening to his teammates, the need to be more selective in his at-bats and the fact that he needs to run the bases better. He has known all along that he has to continue to develop defensively, and he has exceeded expectations in the outfield so far (Sunday’s error notwithstanding).

The last month of the season is going to be a great opportunity for the 22-year-old Rodríguez to continue to grow.

“I’m going to make some mistakes,” he said. “If you’re ready, you can make good off that.”