Reds' offense wakes up just in time to complete Yankees' misery after sweep

Don't look now, but the Reds' offense is showing signs of life again.

Eric Cole

San Diego Padres v Cincinnati Reds / Dylan Buell/GettyImages

The Cincinnati Reds' offense has been rather enigmatic this year. Sure, when guys like Spencer Steer, Jonathan India, and especially Elly De La Cruz are rolling, they can look like they can beat anyone. However, the Reds weirdly only have four players with a wRC+ over 100 (the league average) in 2024 as a whole and two of those players, Steer and Jeimer Candelario, only just clear the mark.

However, as the weather has heated up and June began to turn over to July, the Reds' bats seem to have woken up, and the timing couldn't have been better; Cincinnati had to travel to the Bronx to take on the Yankees for a three-game set. After their dominating 8-4 win on July 4th, the Reds completed their sweep of the Yankees and gave hope that Cincy could go on a real run in the second half.

Reds' offense showing signs of waking up especially after sweep of New York

Thursday's win over the Yankees had almost everything Reds' fans could have asked for. Jonathan India had three hits out of the leadoff spot, including his sixth homer of the season. Spencer Steer connected for a three-run blast off of Marcus Stroman, and even Jake Fraley had three RBI on a couple of hits, highlighted by a bases-clearing triple. Elly De La Cruz was a little quiet, but he still added his 42nd stolen base of the season. It was exactly the kind of offensive performance Cincinnati had been looking for.

Hell, the Reds even won the pregame national anthem standoff, as Aaron Boone blinked first and got his guys off the field while Cincy pitchers Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers were left standing. We take all kinds of wins here.

While the Reds' offense ranks in the bottom 10 of all of baseball in batting average, wRC+, and fWAR in 2024, there have been signs that this was coming. Over the team's last seven games, the Reds had scored five or more runs in four of them. A small sample to be sure, but still a promising development, especially for a Reds team that couldn't seem to press the right buttons all season long in their attempts to get their offense going.

Days like Thursday are a reminder of what this team is capable of when they are dialed in. Fans remember their historic win streak in 2023 when this group looked unstoppable before finally cooling off. If this latest stretch of play is any indication, perhaps Cincinnati has the ability to do something like that again without taking drastic measures, especially if they can get Matt McLain back relatively soon.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.