Red Sox allow eight runs off grand slam and poor defense, dropping series finale 8-4 to Reds

The Red Sox had a golden opportunity to sweep the Reds and build momentum heading into the nation’s capital for Boston’s Fourth of July weekend series with the Nationals.

Boston entered the nightcap on Wednesday clinging to a 3-0 lead heading into the seventh inning, but a key error from Abraham Toro at third base set up a go-ahead grand slam off the bat of Christian Encarnacion-Strand that sailed over the Green Monster.

The Reds tacked on another run in the inning to take a 5-3 lead.

“A three-run lead in the seventh, we expect to win those games,” Alex Cora said. “If you look back at the season, there’s a lot of those that have slipped through our hands, and honestly, we’re in the position we are because of that.”

Romy Gonzalez made a costly base-running mistake in the home half of the seventh inning. He hit an RBI double that scraped the top of the Green Monster to bring Boston within a run, 5-4. The ball got past Reds left fielder Austin Hays, who tried to make a leaping catch against the Monster’s scoreboard. Gonzalez saw that misplay in the outfield as an opportunity to stretch a double into a triple, turned his motors on, and headed to third. Reds shortstop Matt McLain, who ran out to the outfield to retrieve the ball, threw out Gonzalez at third base for the first out of the inning.

“That’s too aggressive,” Cora said of Gonzalez’s decision to try and take third.

Later in the inning, Jarren Duran delivered a single that could have possibly tied the game in the inning.

The Red Sox's poor defense continued to cause havoc in the eighth inning, leading to three additional runs scored.. The sequence included a play where Roman Anthony failed to call off Marcelo Mayer on a fly ball in shallow right field and proceeded to throw away what would have at least been an effortless force out at second base.

“Just bad communication on my end," said Anthony after the game. "I’m the outfielder coming in, he’s coming back, and the ball kind of stayed up, so I’ve got to make that play and make that throw at the very least. The one’s on me; I’ve just got to call him off as the right fielder, knowing that’s my priority.”

Trevor Story added to the Sox’ troubles, misplaying a grounder by TJ Friedl that Mayer threw to third base instead of home. Toro then tried to get the runner at the plate, and the runner at second ended up at third base on the mental gaffe.

Story didn’t have an answer for why the Red Sox continue to make mental mistakes in the field night after night.

“We definitely feel like we’re close. If you win a series, that’s a positive, and that’s the way we’re going to look at it,” Story said. “Obviously this one stings a little bit because we felt like we could have completed the sweep and we had a lead, but we keep winning series, we’ll be where we want to be at the end.”

Anthony took responsibility for rushing the throw from right field and overthrowing second, allowing the Reds to load the bases.

“Just bad communication on my end,” Anthony said. ”I’m the outfielder coming in. He’s going back. And the ball just kind of stayed up. So I gotta make that play and gotta make that throw at the very least. But that one’s on me. Just gotta call him off there as the right fielder, knowing that that’s my priority."

Mayer said that he needs to do a better job of communicating.

“I know I was super close to the play,” Mayer said. “It’s a play that I think I should make every single time. But yeah, I think he just placed it really well, and we’ve got to do a better job of communicating.”

Anthony didn’t make excuses and doubled down on needing to make the play.

“No. I mean, it just can’t happen,” Anthony said. “I just grabbed it and threw it. And gotta get under control there and at least get an out. So I’m not blaming the grip. That play’s got to be made.”

HOW THE SOX SCORED

Boston took an early 3-0 lead in the game beginning in the second inning when Ceddanne Rafaela led off the frame with a double off the center field portion of the Green Monster. He took third when the center fielder bobbled the ball and later scored when Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly into right field.

Wilyer Abreu hit his 17th home run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. Abreu was red hot for Boston during the homestand, collecting eight hits, hitting four homers, including an inside-the-park homer, one double, and 12 RBI.

BRAYAN BELLO IN RESUMED GAME

The Sox opted to have Brayan Bello start the resumed game on Wednesday afternoon.

Bello pitched five innings, allowing two runs off one hit with one walk and three strikeouts. The Sox’ righty allowed a walk and then a two-run homer to Spencer Steer in the fourth inning, allowing the Reds to go up 3-2. Bello settled down from there and retired the next eight batters he faced. He faced only 14 batters from the moment he allowed the two-run blast.

“That was a good learning experience for him because every pitch mattered,” Cora said after the game. “As a starter, if you give up three in six innings, you’re happy, but here he needed to make pitches the whole game. He did a great job with the runners; he kept them at first. The last game they stole two or three, I think it was. He was in command, got ground balls, and we played good defense behind him and a really good one.”

RED SOX STARTER UNDERGOES WRIST SURGERY

Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford underwent wrist surgery and is could miss the remainder of the season. 

In a release, the team announced that Crawford had surgery “to reconstruct the stabilizing sheath of the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) in his right wrist.”

It’s not clear how Crawford injured his wrist but Cora told reporters on June 25, that it was an off-the-field injury resulting from an accident and nothing “irresponsible” on the right-hander’s part. 

Crawford had been on the injured list since the start of the season with a right knee injury. He was expected to begin a rehab assignment  prior to having wrist surgery.