Elly De La Cruz

De La Cruz went 3-for-5 with a solo home run, two additional runs scored and two stolen bases in Wednesday's 9-4 win over Atlanta.

Ronald Acuna Jr. had 23 homers and 49 steals through 101 games last year on his way to a 40/70 season. De La Cruz is at 18 homers and 51 steals through 101 games this year. He also has his average up to .262, which is the highest it's been since May 21. He was down in the .230s for a time in June, but he's come in at .336 in his last 26 games.

The 28-year-old was called up to be the 27th man in a doubleheader on Wednesday, and the start did not go as planned. He allowed five extra-base hits, including home runs to Jake Fraley and Elly De La Cruz. He now has a 15.26 ERA and is unlikely to be making any more starts.

De La Cruz was at the epicenter of Cincinnati's offensive production in this one, coming around to score on Jeimer Candelario's first-inning sacrifice fly shortly after smacking a one-out triple off Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez. He also delivered a two-out single and raced around the bases to score on Candelario's third-inning double before drawing a walk and stealing his 49th base of the year a couple frames later. The 22-year-old speedster is the most electrifying hitter in the game at the moment and has a realistic shot at winding up somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 stolen bases.

The Reds' offense was asleep for eight innings in this one before coming alive for four runs in the ninth inning to make the Nationals sweat. It's still spectacular to see how high De La Cruz's steal total can climb, as he's now stolen 17 more bags than Brice Turang who is second in the league.