Reds’ JJ Bleday homers to complete cycle in win — eight months after he was cut by A’s

JJ Bleday, in the middle of perhaps the best season of his career, was prime trade bait at the Aug. 3 deadline.

The Reds opted to hang onto him, and that decision definitely paid off for them on Saturday night.

The 28-year-old left fielder hit for the cycle in just six innings on Saturday to lead the Cincinnati Reds to an 11-5 blowout win over the Diamondbacks in Arizona.

Bleday, batting third, kicked things off in the first inning with a double to drive in star shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who led off the game with a double.

He came back to the plate in the third inning and tripled to bring home rookie phenom Sal Stewart, meaning the hardest piece of the cycle was already complete. Bleday then came home on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Stephenson — himself a retention at the trade deadline with a contract expiring at the end of the year.

Now batting with one out in the fourth and De La Cruz and Stewart aboard, Bleday grounded a single through the right side to load the bases.

Clearly unsatisfied with his three hits and two RBIs in what was at that point was already a blowout, Bleday sent the first pitch of the sixth inning for a solo home run that barely scraped over the wall in right to complete the eighth cycle in franchise history and fourth in the MLB this season.

Though Bleday has been one of the Reds’ top sluggers this season, he found his career hanging in the balance just eight months ago, when the AL West bottom-feeding A’s declined to tender him a contract in the offseason.

Cincinnati took a chance on a one-year, $1.4 million deal, a contract that he has more than lived up to.

Elly De La Cruz nearly joined Bleday in the history books on Saturday, too.

De La Cruz, who went 4-for-6, finished a triple shy of his second career cycle — and it wouldn’t have been too much a surprise if the speedster, who has 29 three-baggers over his four-year career, completed the task. If it happened, the duo would have been the first teammates in MLB history to hit for the cycle in the same game.

He ended his night with a solo home run, double and two singles.

The sixth-inning homer was Bleday’s 21st of the season, second on the team behind Stewart. He leads the Reds in walks and is third in RBIs despite playing the first month of the season in Triple-A.

Much of Bleday’s impact has been for naught, though, as the Reds find themselves last in the division and far out of even a wild card spot. Cincinnati has struggled with rotation injuries and has been, apart from the trio at the top of the lineup, in the dumps on offense.