Terry Francona’s overarching message is being undone by Reds' star Elly De La Cruz

There's going to be mixed reactions among the fanbase about who's to blame for Cincinnati Reds' 7-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night. But regardless of which player draws your ire, the one thing all Reds fans can agree on is that Cincinnati is not playing clean baseball.

Terry Francona, along with many of his players, have spoken about the need to play a clean game. They've done anything but that over the last week, and shortstop Elly De La Cruz has been at the center of the controversy. De La Cruz has five errors in his last six games and seven during the month of August.

While there's more to a clean game than just playing error-free baseball, that's certainly one of the most noticeable aspects. On Friday night against the Cardinals, De La Cruz was responsible for two of the Reds' three errors — the other was due to catcher's interference.

Terry Francona’s overarching message is being undone by Reds' star Elly De La Cruz

De La Cruz had an inexcusable fielding error early on during Friday's loss. Thankfully Zach Littell caught Cardinals' outfielder Jordan Walker trying to steal second base and erased De La Cruz's miscue.

But there was no hiding Elly's error in the top of the 10th inning. A ground ball off the bat of Willson Contreras was picked up by De La Cruz, but his throw was in the dirt and Spencer Steer was unable to pick it cleanly. Should Steer have caught the ball? Probably. Did Elly make a poor throw? Indeed, he did. Either way, the error was charged to De La Cruz (and rightly so).

As a result, Contreras reached safely and St. Louis took the lead after the runner from third base crossed home plate. The Cardinals first baseman came around to score later in the inning, allowing St. Louis to plate two runs in extra innings. The Reds were unable to push across any run in the 10th inning.

The Reds allowed three unearned runs, left 14 men on base, and were 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. That's anything but playing clean baseball, and it's a big reason why the Reds are now sitting five games back of the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card race.

De La Cruz's 22 errors lead the majors by a wide margin. New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe is second with 18, and the closest player behind him has just 15 mistakes on the season. It's unfair to heap this loss — or the Reds' lack of fundamental baseball in general — on the shoulders of De La Cruz. But he's certainly the poster boy for the Reds' inability to play clean baseball.

More Cincinnati Reds News and Rumors