In the span of three innings, the Reds scored 10 unanswered runs en route to an 11-7 win, to take the series two games to one.
It was their first series win in Toronto after four straight futile visits.
Of many Reds highlights, Elly De La Cruz homered for the 22nd time and stole his 60th base, becoming only the fifth player in MLB history to hit 20 homers and steal 60 bases in a season.
One of the other five was Eric Davis, whom De La Cruz idolizes and wears the same uniform number, 44.
“It means a lot, in a club with Eric Davis, a legend,” said De La Cruz during a post-game interview with Bally Sports Ohio.
Of joining the 20/60 club, De La Cruz added, “It means a lot. I’ve been working for that in the off-season. I feel so proud of me right now.”
Fans in the Rogers Centre paid to see a baseball game and a softball game broke out.
Reds starter Nick Martinez gave up a leadoff home run to George Springer, a walk and a two-run home run to Spencer Horwitz.
In the third inning, he gave up a single, a walk and a three-run home run to Ernie Clement and the Reds were 6-0 in arrears. And the Blue Jays had hit nine homers in the three games.
Toronto starter Yariel Rodriguez, 1-5 on the season, pitched three hitless innings with a pair of walks and the Reds seemed lifeless.
Then Rodriguez and the Blue Jays disintegrated.
The Reds scored two in the fourth, five in the fifth and three in the sixth to grab a 10-6 lead.
The improbable and implausible comeback began in the fourth when De La Cruz singled and unwisely, with a six-run deficit, tried to stretch it into a double and was thrown out.
He would more than atone for the faux pas.
After the De La Cruz mishap, Tyler Stephenson singled and with two outs Spencer Steer drove a long home run, his 19th, into the second deck in left field.
Still, the Reds trailed, 6-2.
Then came a wild and wondrous fifth inning for the Reds, a five-spot to forge a 7-6 lead.
It began, as it so often does, with a single by Santiago Espinal. With one out, Noelvi Marte singled. Jonathan India singled for a run and it was 6-3.
Marte and India pulled off a double steal, putting runners on third and second. De La Cruz rectified his baserunning blunder with a two-run single to left and the Reds were down, 6-5.
De La Cruz took second on a wild pitch and stole third, becoming only the fifth player in MLB history with 20 homers and 60 steals in a season. Two of the others are Reds — Joe Morgan and Elly’s hero and mentor, Davis.
Stephenson grounded sharply to shortstop and the fleet afoot De La Cruz bolted home with a head first slide to tie it, 6-6.
And the inning wasn’t over. TJ Friedl struck out for the second out. Steer grounded to second for what should have been the third out, but Leo Jimenez botched it for an error.
Cincinnati native Erik Swanson took the mound and promptly hit Ty France to fill the bases. Then he walked Espinal, forcing in the go-ahead run for a 7-6 Reds lead.
Swanson remained in the game for the sixth and gave up back-to-back home runs to Marte and India. He walked De La Cruz and tried three times to pick him off and when he didn’t get him on the third try, De La Cruz was awarded second base on the third unsuccessful disengagement.
Stephenson doubled home De La Cruz and it was 10-6.
To complete his night, De La Cruz led off the eighth with a home run, the fourth of the night for the Reds. He finished his productive night 3 for 4 with three RBI and three runs scored.
Asked about his team scoring 11 unanswered runs, De La Cruz said, “It was very fun. Watching our whole team, that’s amazing. That’s why I love this team.”
The comeback was similar to a good in April of last season when the Reds fell behind the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers, 6-0, and came back to win, 7-6.
His eighth inning home run was to the opposite field, into the left field seats and he said, “It’s the same thing, it’s a homer. But it feels way better hitting it to the opposite side.
“And we needed this one, down six and we took advantage and we took the game,” he said.
After Martinez departed, Cincinnati’s parade of pitchers included Tony Santillan, Buck Farmer, Sam Moll and Emilio Pagan kept the Blue Jays off the board, although they had opportunities to get back in it.
They had two on in the fourth and didn’t score. They loaded the bases in the fifth and didn’t score. They had two on in the sixth and didn’t score. They had two on in the seventh and didn’t score.
They scored a harmless run off Alexis Diaz in the ninth.
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