Postgame Takeaways: Cincinnati Reds Beat Miami Marlins 8-3

The Cincinnati Reds (54-58) beat the Miami Marlins (42-71) 7-3 on Monday night.

Here are our postgame takeaways:

Nick Martinez Shines

Martinez was expected to give the Reds just a couple of innings of work on Monday. However, he was able to toss five scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and striking out five.

Martinez has been a bright spot and a fantastic off-season signing for the Reds. His ERA is now down to 3.43 on the season.

The Bats were Hot and Elly De La Cruz!!!!

After a tough offensive series against the San Francisco Giants, the Reds offense bounced back in a big way on Monday. Elly De La Cruz wasted no time in giving the Reds a 2-0 when he launched the first pitch he saw into the right-field seats for his 19th home run of the season.

In the third, the Reds played add-on when De La Cruz reached on an error, scoring Jonathan India to make it 3-0 lead. TJ Friedl followed with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to four.

The Reds weren't done yet. Noelvi Marte hit a two-run home run to right field in the fourth to give the Reds a 6-0 cushion, his third of the season.

In the fifth, Ty France got in on the action with a solo shot to deep center field, his first home run as a Red.

De La Cruz hit his second home run of the game in the eighth to give the Reds an 8-3 lead. It was his fourth hit of the game, all of which went for extra bases.

He became the third Red ever to hit 20 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season, joining Eric David and Joe Morgan.

The Reds offense scored 10 runs on 15 hits.

Up Next

The Reds and Marlins will face off in game two of the series on Tuesday at 6:40 ET.

News and Notes

• Elly De La Cruz had four hits breaking his 0-13 skid at the plate.
• Noevli Marte broke a 0-10 skid when he launched his third home run of the season in the fourth.
• The Reds are now 25-12 in series openers.
• The Reds are 39-8 when scoring five runs or more.
• Jakob Junis allowed six hits and three runs in 1 2/3 innings.