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What Terry Francona ‘respects the hell out of’ as Reds surge
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- What Terry Francona ‘respects the hell out of’ as Reds surge
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The Cincinnati Reds have established themselves as one of the toughest teams this season in Major League Baseball. Cincinnati currently leads the NL Central, with a 15-8 record. Reds manager Terry Francona has loved watching his team play so far.
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Francona added that his club is finding ways to get hits, despite being one of the worst offensive teams statistically in MLB.
“We need to do that. But I still love the way we’re competing,” Francona said, per MLB.com. “I don’t see any difference in their demeanor regardless of what their batting average is and I love that. I respect the hell out of that.”
This Reds team seems to enjoy playing together . Cincinnati has won seven of their last 10 games. Every team in the NL Central is now within two games of each other.
“It’s fun. We keep finding a way,” Reds starting pitcher Rhett Lowder said. “Every game looks a little different, but we always find a way and it’s fun. Just try to keep it going.”
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Cincinnati is also using stellar defense to pick up wins. Against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, Elly De La Cruz made a hustle play to stop what could have been an extra base hit by Tampa Bay.
That defense was needed as Cincinnati was struggling to get hits at that time in the game.
“We can do more than that. We’re not always going to hit but when we’re [right], we can do a lot of things,” De La Cruz said.
That defense seemed to wake up Cincinnati’s bats. The Reds went on to score two runs in the sixth, while adding another run in the seventh on Monday. The Reds would end up toppling the Rays, 6-1.
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“Winning always feels good,” De La Cruz said. “We’ve just got to keep doing the little things, keep grinding.”
The Reds play the Rays again on Tuesday.
Related: Reds’ Sal Stewart keeps hitting HRs, but it was a SB that had Terry Francona laughing
Related: Reds’ shortstop Elly De La Cruz’s reaction after robbing Junior Caminero is simply perfect
