Unnecessary Elly De La Cruz-TJ Friedl collision may give Reds another injury issue

As if Cincinnati Reds fans needed any more grief as they watch their team remain (largely) incompetent on the offensive side of the ball night after night, they were given a jump scare with their star player on Tuesday night.

Elly De La Cruz collided with center fielder TJ Friedl on a play in which three players converged on a pop up to shallow center field. De La Cruz covered a ton of ground on the play, but the ball dropped in between him and Friedl. Both made diving attempts and it appears Friedl caught the worst of it.

He left the game in the top of the fifth after the collision occurred in the top of the fourth. For context, however, he was also hit by a pitch in the bottom of the third, too. De La Cruz stayed in the game as the Reds avoided complete disaster, but losing Friedl would be a killer right now with how badly injuries have affected the roster. The Reds' depth is getting tested to the max on the position player side of things in May. Not. good.

After watching the video, Friedl did not seem pleased. Though they slid into one another feet-first, it was still a play in which De La Cruz was wildly out of position. We also must question, however, why Friedl was playing so deep with Miguel Vargas at the plate. He has a .328 slugging percentage.

Reds fans on social media lamented about De La Cruz's tendency to wander off his position and interrupt his fellow outfielders on what can turn out to be dangerous plays. Perhaps sometimes his elite athleticism can be a bit of a curse.

It also didn't help this game wasn't being played in the best of conditions. It was subject to a rain delay and started about an hour and a half late.

To make things worse, in the bottom of the fifth with the Reds trailing 1-0, Spencer Steer was thrown out on a fielder's choice after a baserunning gaffe. He was on third base and broke for home on a chopper but then got caught in no man's land when White Sox pitcher Jonathan Cannon made a nice defensive play.

Not a great night for Reds fans, and now everyone must stay tuned for an injury update on Friedl, whose potential absence might result in another minor roster shakeup of sorts. Or ... at least we hope not.