Seven years ago, then-Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty stepped up to the plate in Fenway Park, in the top of the second, his first game back after bereavement leave following his mother Gretchen's death from ALS. He caught hold of an 0-2 pitch and drove it clean out of the ballpark, over and past the Green Monster.
"There was something in the air," said then-A's manager Bob Melvin postgame. "Probably Gretchen."
That was then, this was Sunday: Reds shortstop star Elly De La Cruz insisting upon playing a series finale against the Cubs, despite learning his older sister, Genelis, died the day before. Declining to wait until any bereavement leave passed to give his sister a hefty salute.
De La Cruz stepped up to the Wrigley Field plate in the top of the sixth, with one on and two out, after having singled in the first and flied out in the fourth. He took Jameson Tallion's cutter low to open. He looked at a fastball that arrived just outside, but was called a strike regardless. He took a changeup outside. He took a cutter rising high and away to run the count to 3-1. He fouled a four-seam fastball away into the stands.
Then, he jumped on another four-seamer hitting the inside wall of the strike zone and blasted it high down the right field line. It sailed out just fair. De La Cruz tapped his heart twice as he slowed down the third base line preparing to cross the plate. The moment he stepped on the plate, he formed his hands into a heart shape.
The Cubs challenged the home run call, the ball was thatclose to the foul pole. Some of the Reds looked out from the dugout in mild disbelief. De La Cruz himself went from expressionless to bewildered, as if he didn't have enough on his heart. Then, the umpires ruled the blast did indeed pass the pole fair on its way to the street behind the ballpark.
Eso es para ti hermana.
Genelis De La Cruz's cause of death wasn't disclosed as of the close of play Sunday, neither by MLB nor the Reds, apparently at her brother's request. De La Cruz himself elected not to talk to the press postgame. Reds manager Terry Francona did, however.
"We care so much about playing a game and winning," he told reporters, "but in a hurry, you're reminded of what's really important. So I think everybody kind of kept their head on a swivel with him today, just trying to take care of him . . . He takes so much pride in being available. Guys like that, Carlos Santana in Cleveland was very similar, and for a kid that's that young, that's an admirable trait."
The only thing that could have been better than De La Cruz hitting one into the sky for his big sister would have been a Reds win. The game ended in a Cubs win, 7-3, with De La Cruz handling the scoring for the Reds. The 2-run blast was one such handle. Coming home on a ninth-inning sacrifice fly was the other.
De La Cruz has a Reds precedent for bereavement slugging. Two years before Piscotty said au revoir to Mom with a shot out of Fenway, Reds reliever Michael Lorenzen found himself in the unlikely position of needing to bat during an assignment against the Dodgers his first day back from bereavement leave. He faced then-Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez with two on and two out. Then, he hit the first pitch over the right field fence.
Major difference aside from Lorenzen's usual field position: unlike Piscotty and De La Cruz, he got to hit the memorial blast for Dad in front of the home crowd. But just getting to do that at all in memory of a parent, a sibling, any loved one, makes the where a lot less important.
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