Don't taunt Elly De La Cruz.

The sensational Cincinnati Reds rookie flied out to deep center field during his first at-bat against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday. When he approached the plate for his second at-bat in the third inning, he was met with this greeting from the Brewers' home scoreboard operator.

"Elly De La Cruz: Almost his a home run in the first inning... but didn't."

On the very first pitch of the at-bat, De La Cruz did this:

That's a 456-foot home run that not only cleared the right-center-field wall but also cleared the stands. The ball didn't land until it hit the concourse behind the center-field seats, and it did so with the message trolling De La Cruz still glowing on the scoreboard.

The two-run blast off Brewers starter Colin Rea scored catcher Tyler Stephenson and gave the Reds a 2-1 lead. It was De La Cruz's sixth home run in 41 games since he was called up in early June. It wasn't the first moonshot for De La Cruz, who makes a habit of hitting the ball really, really hard.

Entering Monday's game, De La Cruz was slashing .273/.322/.447 with five home runs, 17 RBI and 17 stolen bases. He's a big reason the Reds started the night a half-game behind the Brewers for first place in the NL Central.

Elly De La Cruz

SS - CIN - #44

Since June 6 call-up

45

H

6

HR

19

RBI

0

BB

56

K

But the Brewers got the last laugh Monday. They went into the bottom of the ninth with the game tied 2-2. Faced with a chance to end the game, Christian Yelich delivered. The former MVP hit an RBI single off Reds closer Alexis Díaz that scored Blake Perkins from second base.

The walk-off single secured a 3-2 win for the Brewers and snapped a five-game Reds win streak. It also ensured that Milwaukee ended the night with a 1.5-game lead in the NL Central.