News about Graham Ashcraft

The Cincinnati Reds not only completed a three-game sweep of the floundering New York Yankees in the Bronx on Thursday. Manger David Bell's club also won the national anthem. For five minutes ahead of Thursday's matinee, Reds hurlers Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers had what's become known as an 'anthem standoff' with the Yankees' Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet. Basically, it's a game of chicken to see who can linger on the field the longest following the playing of The Star-Spangled Banner. One 2023 standoff between Boston's Kutter Crawford and Philadelphia's Matt Strahm lasted so long that umpires tossed both players, who were ultimately fined by the league.

The slow start to Elly De La Cruz's 2024 season ended abruptly on Monday as the Cincinnati Reds infielder registered a pair of very different home runs: A dazzling inside-the-park effort and a 450-foot bomb that briefly looked destined for the banks of the Ohio River. The homers are the first two of the current campaign for De La Cruz, who has been criticized in 2024 for everything from his defense to his poor pitch selection. The 22-year-old native Dominican lifted his average to a healthy .297 with three hits in Monday's dramatic 10-8 win over the division-rival Milwaukee Brewers. He also stole his sixth base of the season - better than all but Brewers second baseman Brice Turang's seven. But nothing on Monday could quite compare to De La Cruz's electric inside-the-park home run.

The New York Yankees have kicked off a road trip in disgusting style, as their hopes of making the playoffs fade. With the Angels up to bat leading 6-3, a slim chance of a comeback was shattered by the eighth inning. Tommy Kahnle of the Yankees scored a runner from second on a ground rule double, effectively ending any chance of a win. When Kahnle hurled his glove at a cooling fan in the dugout, destroying it, he may have pitched his most accurate pitch of the night.

Elly De La Cruz, MLB's newest superstar, scored a spectacular solo homer and two doubles after an incident with a covering on his bat's knob, and the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Washington Nationals 9-2 on Wednesday night. Cincinnati defeated the seventh time in eight games with Joey Votto homered and finished with three hits. Will Benson had two hits and two RBIs for the NL Central leaders, and Graham Ashcraft (4-6) pitched six strong innings in his first victory since May 28. In its fourth loss in five games, Washington received ten hits but it went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Josiah Gray (6-7), a right-hander for the Nationals, allowed three earned runs and eight hits in five innings.

Liam Hendricks returned to the majors after winning the White Sox's bizarre victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday. Yoán Moncada scampered home on a 10th-inning wild pitch that knocked out umpire Cory Blaser, bringing the Chicago White Sox to a 2-1 victory. Hendriks pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning in his second game of the season after recovering from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

As Cincinnati blanked visiting Philadelphia, 13-0 on Saturday, Wil Myers homered twice, punched in five runs, and played heroic defense in favor of six shutout innings from Graham Ashcraft. In the second inning, Myers eked out a Matt Strahm (1-1) fastball 406 feet off the wall in left field for a 1-0 Cincinnati lead. Myers went from reliever Andrew Bellatti to the seats in left center for a three-run homer and a 4-0 Reds advantage in the third season, with runners on second and third positions.