Red Sox end five-game winning streak, striking out 14 times in 5-2 loss to Reds

Cincinnati Reds runner Santiago Espinal (left) scores as Boston Red Sox catcher Connor Wong chases a bad throw in the eighth inning of a game Friday in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

The Red Sox have been in top form recently, but on Friday night many of the club’s old bad habits resurfaced.

Boston’s five-game winning streak ended after the Red Sox lost Game 1 of the series 5-2 to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. The club gave up three home runs, made three errors in a single inning and was barely able to generate any consistent offense aside from two solo home runs.

With temperatures reaching 91 degrees on the first pitch, the ball flew all night. Each of the first five runs came on solo home runs, two of them courtesy of Reds designated hitter Jeimer Candelario, who broke the ice with a solo hit in the first inning and added another in the third.

While Connor Wong tied the game at 1-1 in the second, Cincinnati’s Jonathan India answered with a hit in the second and Jarren Duran tied the game again with a home run in the third before Candelario’s second hit gave Cincinnati a 3-2 lead.

The home runs continued a troubling trend for Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford, who has now allowed multiple home runs in three consecutive starts and at least one in nine of his last 10 starts since May 1. Before that, Crawford had not allowed a single home run in his first six starts of the season.

But with no traffic on the bases, those home runs weren’t too damaging, and otherwise Crawford was largely in control of the game. The right-hander allowed just two hits and one walk in 6.1 innings other than home runs, and struck out 10 batters in a row between the third and sixth innings.

But then everything went wrong in the seventh inning: The Red Sox made three errors and allowed the Reds to win the game.

An error on the first pitch and a double by Luke Maile put two men in scoring position with one out, prompting Cora to take Crawford out of the game and bring in left-hander Cam Booser to get out of the jam. On Booser’s first pitch, TJ Friedl laid down a bunt, and Booser’s attempt to throw the ball to Wong sailed over the catcher’s head, allowing both Santiago Espinal and Maile to score and Cincinnati to make it 5-2.

Things could have gotten worse after Devers got Bobby Dalbec off base with a weak throw on a routine grounder that should have ended the inning, but right-hander Brad Keller was able to leave the bases loaded by forcing a flyout to left.

Those two runs were both unearned, so Crawford still managed his third straight good start. He finished the game with five runs (three earned) in 6.1 innings with five hits, two walks and seven strikeouts on 88 pitches.

“It was actually an interesting outing for Kutter, wasn’t it? The home runs and the traffic at the beginning and after that he was all in,” said manager Alex Cora.

But although Crawford was good, Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott was better.

The Reds’ left-hander had his best start of the year, striking out a season-high 10 Red Sox batters but allowing two runs on four hits and a walk. Aside from Wong and Duran’s home runs, Boston’s only baserunners came on a walk and two singles that came in separate innings, neither of which got past first base.

Abbott’s performance was particularly notable considering the 25-year-old doesn’t have many strikeouts. In his first 14 starts before Friday, he had only had seven or more strikeouts twice and had pitched 60 to 79 innings.

“He had a good fastball,” Cora said. “It seems like everything was close, the four-seamer had carry and we were late. But like I said, we hung in there, we had one bad inning on defense and that’s it.”

Cincinnati’s bullpen was also dominant, and the Red Sox struck out 14 times in total, the second-highest number in a game this season.

Boston (40-36) looks to bounce back on Saturday when Nick Pivetta (4-4, 3.88) faces Cincinnati’s Frankie Montas (3-5, 4.62). First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m.

Abreu is about to return

Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu returned to the major league club on Friday in Cincinnati, and Cora told reporters before the game that the rookie outfielder should be back in action Saturday. Abreu has missed 16 games since spraining his right ankle after a freak fall on the dugout steps in Boston’s 8-4 loss to Detroit on June 2, but he looked great in his second rehab game on Wednesday, hitting two home runs for the WooSox.

Abreu was one of Boston’s best all-around players, posting a .272 batting average with six home runs, 22 RBI, seven stolen bases and an OPS of .829.

Refsnyder sits

Normally, Rob Refsnyder starts when a left-hander is on the mound, as the outfielder has beaten left-handers in the past and has a .321 batting average against them. But Refsnyder was conspicuously absent from the lineup on Friday, even though the Reds started a left-hander in Abbott, and Cora explained that Refsnyder was dealing with soreness in his right knee.

“The referee is a little banged up. He’s got some pain in his right knee, so we decided to go that route (with the lineup),” Cora told reporters before the game, as transcribed by Christopher Smith of MassLive.

Cora added that Refsnyder does not need to be placed on the injured list, but the club will play it safe in the coming days. The Red Sox will face another left-hander on Sunday, when Cincinnati’s Nick Lodolo is scheduled to be on the mound.