Jeimer Candelario homers twice, Andrew Abbott strikes out 10 as Reds beat Red Sox 5-2

CINCINNATI (AP) Jeimer Candelario homered twice, Andrew Abbott struck out a season-high 10 and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Red Sox 5-2 in the opener of an interleague series on a Friday night.

Candelario hit solo homers off Kutter Crawford (3-7) in the first and third innings. Jonathan India had solo shot off the Red Sox starter in the second, and the Reds scored two more on a throwing error by reliever Cam Booser in the seventh to halt Boston's five-game winning streak.

Candelario is hitting .338 in June and and pushed his season home run total to a team-high 14.

“He's done it before in big spots. He's done it in important situations, all that,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He knew it was just a matter of time.”

Abbott (6-6) allowed two runs - solo homers by Jarren Duran and Connor Wong - and four hits in 5 2/3 innings. He gave up a single to Romy Gonzalez to start the sixth and then fanned Tyler O'Neill and Rafael Devers before giving way to Fernando Cruz, who struck out Wong to end the inning.

Sam Moll and Nick Martinez followed, each with a scoreless innings, and Alexis Diaz pitched the ninth for this 17th save.

“I was able to get into the strike zone on all counts,” the 24-year-old Abbott said. “I was able to win the race with two strikes, like win the 1-1 counts. I was able to do some things that in some games this year I haven't been able to do.”

The Reds were holding onto a 3-2 lead in the seventh when they took advantage of two Red Sox errors. The first, a wild throw on a grounder to second, put Santiago Espinal on first base.

He advanced to third on a double by Luke Maile, which chased Crawford. An errant throw home by Booser on a surprise TJ Friedl bunt allowed both runners to score.

“Honestly, he put down a pretty good (bunt),” said Wong, the catcher. "He killed it. (Booser) had to make a really tough play, and it ended up going over my head. The trail runner was able to come around and score. Hindsight is 20-20, right? It was do or die. It was a great effort. We didn’t execute.”

Crawford allowed five runs and five hits over 6 1/3 innings.

The homers by Duran and Wong extended their respective hitting streaks to 11 games, a career high for both.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Red Sox: OF Wilyer Abreu (ankle sprain) is expected to be activated on Saturday. He has been out since June 4.

Reds: C Tyler Stephenson is day to day with an undisclosed injury, leading to C Austin Wynns being promoted from Triple-A Louisville. OF Jacob Hurtubise, who garnered attention as only the second West Point graduate to play in the major leagues and one of the first athletes to be granted a delay in military service to play professional sports, was sent down. The 26-year-old was hitting .185 in 29 games with Reds.

UP NEXT

The Red Sox send right-hander Nick Pivetta (4-4, 3.88 ERA) to the mound to face Reds right-hander Frankie Montas (3-5, 4.62) as the series continues on Saturday night.

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