Elly De La Cruz looks for encore in Reds' rematch vs. Dodgers

Elly De La Cruz walked into a Shohei Ohtani celebration Thursday at Los Angeles and showed once again that his game is worthy of much attention, too.

De La Cruz will get a chance to show it all over again on Friday when the visiting Cincinnati Reds take on the Dodgers in the second contest of a four-game series.

In the series opener, which was a Dodgers' Ohtani bobblehead giveaway, De La Cruz flashed all parts of his game. He had a career-high four stolen bases and added four hits to match a personal best. And he scored three runs in the Reds' 7-2 victory that was more dominating than the score indicated.

"This is my city," De La Cruz said afterward with a laugh on the Bally Sports Cincinnati broadcast.

De La Cruz made his major league debut at Los Angeles last season and went 4-for-11 with a home run and two RBIs in his first three games.

"My first time in the U.S. was here in L.A.," De La Cruz said. "And also, I played a lot of GTA (Grand Theft Auto) when I was a kid and I liked the city. When I was a little kid, I used to say I was born in L.A. This is my city."

Now 3-4 on a 10-game road trip, the Reds will try to break even by sending right-hander Frankie Montas (2-3, 4.20 ERA) to the mound.

Montas is 0-3 with a 6.38 ERA in his past five starts and will make his third start since returning from a right forearm injury. In two career starts against the Dodgers, he is 0-2 with a hefty 16.20 ERA.

Los Angeles will turn to left-hander James Paxton (5-0, 2.58) to start Friday's game.

Paxton enters after holding the San Diego Padres scoreless over six innings Saturday. He has given up more than two runs just twice in seven starts and has not allowed more than four.

His most recent outing was the first time Paxton did not issue a walk this season, and it came after he issued a combined 18 free passes over his previous four starts.

"He has uncharacteristically walked a lot of guys and is still able to weather those baserunners and make pitches to limit the damage," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "(He does) not get overly frustrated to cost us a start or an outing and keeps working through it. ... That speaks to his experience and maturity."

Paxton, 35, has faced the Reds just once in his career. That outing came last season when he gave up one run in five innings of a no-decision while pitching for the Boston Red Sox.

Paxton's outing Friday comes one day after Los Angeles pitching saw its franchise-best streak of 22 consecutive games of four runs or less come to an end.

But he will need some run support. The Dodgers only avoided a shutout Thursday with two outs in the ninth inning on a two-run single from Gavin Lux. Ohtani was 0-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base.

The Dodgers are just 3-4 in their past seven games. They scored two runs or fewer in each of their defeats.

--Field Level Media