BOSTON — Instant reactions from the Red Sox’ 8-4 loss to the Reds at Fenway Park on Wednesday evening:
1) Romy Gonzalez made a costly baserunning mistake in the seventh inning. He hit an RBI double that scraped off the Green Monster and cut Boston’s deficit to 5-4. The ball got past left fielder Austin Hays who tried to make a leaping catch against the Green Monster scoreboard. Shortstop Matt McLain ran out to left field to retrieve the ball. Gonzalez tried to extend his double into a triple but McLain threw him out at third base for the first out of the inning.
2) The Red Sox (43-45) played ugly defense in the eighth inning, allowing Cincinnati to plate three runs, including two unearned runs.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s 207-foot fly ball fell between second baseman Marcelo Mayer and right fielder Roman Anthony with runners at first and second base and one out.
The runners had to hold to see if the ball would be caught. Anthony picked up the ball quickly after it dropped. He should have had an easy force-out play at second base. But he overthrew second. That loaded the bases. Santiago Espinal followed with an RBI single. The Reds scored two more runs after Trevor Story committed a fielding error.
3) The Red Sox decided on a bullpen game with Brennan Bernardino as their opener. Boston relievers kept the Reds scoreless through six innings. But righty Greg Weissert allowed five runs, including a grand slam to Encarnacion-Strand in the seventh to make it 5-3 Cincinnati.
One of the runs was unearned as an error by third baseman Abraham Toro helped to load the bases.
4) Encarnacion-Strand initially wasn’t in the Reds starting lineup. He replaced Spencer Steer, who the Reds scratched less than an hour before the game due to swelling in his right hand. His slam went 439 feet and left his bat at 109.1 mph.
5) Wilyer Abreu is on fire. The 26-year-old belted a two-run homer in the sixth inning to give Boston a 3-0 lead. He also delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning of a 5-3 win earlier in the day, a resumed game that had been suspended from Tuesday.
Abreu had eight hits, four home runs, one double and 12 RBIs on the homestand.
6) Lefty Chris Murphy threw 2 ⅔ scoreless innings and allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out two. He reached 95.8 mph to strike out Rece Hinds swinging to end the fourth inning.
He also made a fantastic behind-the-back catch on Gavin Lux’s 97.8 mph one-hop comebacker. He ran toward the first base bag and underhanded it to first baseman Romy Gonzalez for the first out of his perfect fifth inning.
Boston activated Murphy from the 60-day injured list June 28, approximately 13 and a half months after he underwent Tommy John surgery.
7) Ceddanne Rafaela — who is fourth in fWAR among Red Sox players — helped give Boston a 1-0 lead when he led off the second inning with a 413-foot double. He advanced to third base on a fielding error. He scored on Romy Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly to right field.
8) Bernardino threw 1 ⅔ scoreless innings as Boston’s opener. He pitched around one walk and one hit while striking out two. The lefty has served as an opener 10 times in his career, allowing just two runs in 14 ⅓ innings (1.26 ERA).
9) Manager Alex Cora had Rob Refsnyder on his bench but he decided to stick with Roman Anthony against left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers down 5-4 with two outs and a runner at second in the seventh.
10) The Red Sox will have Thursday off. They begin a three-game series in Washington D.C. against the Nationals on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. Lucas Giolito (4-1, 3.99 ERA) will start for Boston. Washington has not yet announced its starter.