MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Dominican Elly de la Cruz hit his first grand slam in the majors, as part of a six-run seventh inning, and the Cincinnati Reds They beat the 8-4 on Friday Twins of Minnesota.
The Twins (78-69) fell for the seventh time in 10 games and are two and a half games ahead of Detroit in the fight for the last wild card berth to the playoffs in the American League.
TJ Friedl drove in the Reds’ first two runs, with a home run in the second inning and a suicide bunt that turned into an RBI single in the seventh off Bailey Ober (12-7), to put Cincinnati up by 2 -1.
Ty France hit an RBI double and De la Cruz followed with his 24th home run, second since August 21.
De la Cruz stayed at the plate and raised the bat. He watched the flight of the ball hit against the Dominican Jorge Alcalá, which ended up on the second floor of the right field stands.
Julian Aguiar (2-0) made his longest start among the six he has had in the Major Leagues. He limited the Twins three hits in six and a third innings, with four strikeouts.
For the Reds, the Dominicans De la Cruz 4-1 with one run scored and four RBIs, Santiago Espinal 3-0 with one run scored, Noelvi Marte 3-0.
For the Twinsthe Dominican Carlos Santana 4-1. Puerto Rican Willi Castro was 2-1 with one run scored and one RBI.
