Cincinnati Reds rookie Rece Hinds makes it back-to-back home runs in his two days in MLB
By Sam Joseph, CNN
(CNN) — It has been a spectacular start to life in the major leagues for Cincinnati Reds rookie Rece Hinds.
After being promoted from the Louisville Bats – the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate – Hinds hit his second home run in as many days as Cincinnati earned a comfortable 12-6 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
The 23-year-old crushed the ball 458 feet in the seventh inning, launching it into the second deck of the left field stands to make a piece of baseball history. With the home run, Hinds’ five extra-base hits are the most by any player in their first two major league games since 1901.
This comes after a devastating 449-foot home run in his debut on Monday as the Reds opened the series against the Rockies with a 6-0 win. He is also the first player to hit for over 445 feet in each of their first two home runs since distances were first tracked by Statcast in 2015.
“When I get hot, I feel like no one can stop me,” Hinds said, via MLB. “I would say the last week or so, I started heating up a little bit. I cut my strikeouts down and started putting the barrel on the ball a little bit more.”
There has seemingly been no need for an adjustment period for the right fielder.
“The ball looks slow and big coming into the zone right now,” he added.
Hinds was drafted by the Reds in the second round with the 49th overall pick in 2019 and spent time honing his craft in the minor leagues. He received the call up after a wave of injuries to multiple outfielders left Cincinnati shorthanded, something that he wasn’t expecting.
“Honestly, when I was driving up from Louisville, I was a wreck,” he said. “I probably teared up a couple of times driving up. I didn’t eat anything all day.”
He nabbed two extra-base hits in his first MLB game on Monday which he followed up with a lead-off double in the fourth inning on Tuesday. He tripled in the fifth and hit the homer in the seventh to leave him one single short of what would have been a momentous cycle.
“He’s playing with confidence and having fun,” Reds manager David Bell said postgame.
“When you hit like that, you have a lot of fun. He’s contributing to wins, and these are big games for us.”
Hinds’ spectacular arrival has breathed life into the Reds’ season, who had just lost three straight against the Detroit Tigers and are now 44-48, looking to enter the playoff chase.
Tyler Stephenson and Will Benson also had big nights, each hitting a home run to allow Cincinnati to jump out to an early 5-0 lead in the second inning that the team never looked back from. Spencer Steer also added a homer late in the game to put the cherry on top of the victory.
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