Cincinnati Reds' Christian Encarnacion-Strand, right, is congratulated by Rece Hinds (57) after his grand slam drive against the Boston Red Sox during the seventh inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

BOSTON — Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit his first career grand slam during a five-run seventh inning and the Cincinnati Reds rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4 on Wednesday night.

Elly De La Cruz, TJ Friedl and Santiago Espinal added RBIs for the Reds.

Nick Martinez (6-8) pitched 6 2/3 innings, yielding four runs off nine hits to help Cincinnati avoid being swept in the three-game interleague series.

Wilyer Abreu hit a two-run home run for the Red Sox. Romy Gonzalez drove in two runs, including an RBI double in the seventh to pull Boston within 5-4.

Brennan Bernardino opened for Boston, pitching 1 1/3 innings before handing off to Jorge Alcala and then Chris Murphy. That trio held Cincinnati to three hits and no runs over 5 2/3 innings before Greg Weissert took over.

Weissert (2-3) got the final out of the sixth. But things fell apart in the seventh when Stephenson led off with a single, followed by Rece Hinds reaching on a fielder’s choice and Gavin Lux walking to load the bases for Encarnacion-Strand. Weissert was pulled after surrendering five runs off four hits.

Earlier Wednesday, Abreu hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth to help Boston earn a 5-3 win in the completion of a game suspended by rain on Tuesday.

Key moment

Abreu jumped on Martinez’s changeup in the sixth, driving it over the right-field wall and into the Reds’ bullpen beyond the reach of Hinds. It came after Hinds had made a catch against the same wall in the fifth, robbing Jarren Duran of an extra-base hit.

Key stat

Encarnacion-Strand’s grand slam was Cincinnati’s sixth of the season.

Up next

LHP Andrew Abbott (7-1, 1.79 ERA) will start for Cincinnati when it opens its three-game series at Philadelphia on Friday. RHP Lucas Giolito (4-1, 3.99) is scheduled to start for Boston at Washington.

GAME 1

Red Sox 5, Reds 3

BOSTON (AP) — Wilyer Abreu hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning Wednesday afternoon and the Boston Red Sox beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 in the completion of a game suspended by rain a night earlier.

Trevor Story added an RBI double after Abreu’s hit, sending Boston to its third win in four games after a six-game losing skid, its longest since September 2022.

Spencer Steer hit a two-run homer for the Reds, who have dropped three of four.

Brayan Bello (4-3) worked five innings of relief and Aroldis Chapman got the final three outs for his 15th save, and the 350th of his career.

With just a few thousand fans of the 32,355 paid attendance in Fenway Park, play resumed at 2:32 p.m. before Steer, the National League’s reigning player of the week, hit an 0-1 cutter from Bello into the Green Monster seats to make it 3-2 in the fourth.

The Red Sox won the opener of the three-game series Monday when Abreu became just the sixth player in major league history to hit an inside-the-park homer and grand slam in the same game. The previous was Roger Maris on August 3, 1958.

Tuesday’s game was halted after three innings, delayed 1 hour, 20 minutes before it was suspended. It was the Reds’ second suspended game this season.

The total time of the game lasted just 2 hours, 9 minutes.

Key moment

With a pinch runner Nate Eaton on third and two outs, Abreu blooped a single to right against Lyon Richardson (0-3). Story then doubled off the center field wall.

Key stat

The Red Sox are a win away from getting back to .500 (43-44) this season.