Allan Winans gets little support from Yankees bats as Elly De La Cruz wreaks havoc in loss to Reds

CINCINNATI — Roughly four hours before first pitch, Allan Winans walked onto an empty field at Great American Ballpark and took out his phone to capture the scene.The right-hander then walked to the mound to inspect his workplace for Monday night, his first big league action since last July.If Winans was visualizing his start, it probably looked like how the first three innings actually played out.And then Elly De La Cruz happened.And even more troubling, the Yankees’ lack of hitting with runners in scoring position happened, turning the game into a 6-1 loss at a sweltering Great American Ballpark.The Yankees (45-33) had their chances to put up a crooked number to support Winans, but instead went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position to drop the series opener.De La Cruz, meanwhile, finished the night a double short of the cycle and was responsible for four of the six Reds runs.He provided instant offense to spoil Winans’ night, combining power and speed to rope an RBI triple that tied the game in the fourth inning before he scored on a sacrifice fly to take the 2-1 lead.In the fifth, after Winans had gotten knocked out of the game, the Reds superstar added an RBI single off Ian Hamilton to make it a 4-1 game.And then in the eighth, De La Cruz took Tim Hill deep to put the Reds (41-38) ahead 5-1.The only offense for the Yankees was Aaron Judge’s 28th home run of the season, a solo shot in the top of the first inning against lefty Nick Lodolo.

The Yankees drove Lodolo’s pitch count up early, but could not take advantage as he and the Reds bullpen avoided the big hit the rest of the night.In the second inning, the Yankees had runners on the corners with one out and could not score.In the third, Cody Bellinger led off with a double but was stranded at third.

In the fifth, they had runners on first and second with one out but came up empty.The most frustrating frame may have been the eighth, when the Yankees put runners on first and second with no outs be...