Cincinnati Reds News Roundup — September 9, 2026

The Cincinnati Reds lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, extending their losing streak to ten games and falling to 69-76 on the season.

Elly De La Cruz provided the game's highlight with a 444-foot home run—the longest hit at Dodger Stadium this season—that tied the game in the third inning. The Dodgers regained the lead in the fifth when Teoscar Hernandez singled off Nick Lodolo, who struggled with control and took the loss. De La Cruz's performance continues an exceptional season: he is hitting .281 with a career-high 11% walk rate and has recorded 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases, joining Eric Davis and Joe Morgan as the only Reds players to achieve that combination in multiple seasons. Multiple outlets noted his elite performance against left-handed pitching, where he leads all of Major League Baseball in batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS. De La Cruz ranks fourth in baseball with 5.3 fWAR despite missing three weeks with a hamstring injury in June and currently playing through a quad injury.

The broader narrative emerging from coverage centers on whether the Reds are adequately supporting their star player. Several outlets questioned whether the front office under Nick Krall is building a competitive roster around De La Cruz while he remains on favorable contract terms with three years of arbitration eligibility remaining. Concerns about rotation stability also surfaced, with Nick Lodolo's recent struggles and questions about the depth of the pitching staff featuring Rhett Lowder, Andrew Abbott, and Brady Singer.

Separately, rookie Sal Stewart has made baseball history by becoming one of three rookies to hit 30 home runs in the same season—a first in MLB history. Stewart leads all rookies with 31 homers, joining Japanese players Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto in breaking the previous record of two rookies hitting 30 in a single year.