Reds win battle for home runs, top Red Sox

Jeimer Candelario hit two solo home runs to propel the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Boston Red Sox on Friday night.

Both home runs came against Boston starting pitcher Kutter Crawford. The first opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, and the second gave the Reds a 3-2 lead in the third.

Candelario has 14 home runs this season and hit eight home runs in June. It was his second multi-homer game of the month.

Cincinnati’s Jonathan India also hit a solo shot for his fifth home run of the season.

Connor Wong (sixth this season) and Jarren Duran (seventh) hit solo home runs for Boston. Wong and Duran each had two hits in the loss and each had 11-game hitting streaks.

Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott (6-6) struck out 10 before leaving the mound with two outs in the sixth inning. He gave up two runs on four hits and walked one. Alexis Diaz gave up one hit in a scoreless ninth and earned his 17th save.

The Red Sox struck out fourteen batters in the loss, ending the team’s five-game winning streak. Rafael Devers struckout three times.

Crawford (3-7) pitched 6 1/3 innings. He gave up five runs (three earned) on five hits, struckout seven and walked two.

After Candelario opened the scoring with his first home run of the game, Wong tied the game, 1-1, when he homered in the second.

India’s home run came in the bottom of the second inning to give the Reds a 2-1 lead. After Duran homered in the third to make it 2-2, Candelario’s second home run gave the Reds a 3-2 lead.

Cincinnati extended the lead to 5-2 in the seventh when TJ Friedl bunted with runners on second and third base. Santiago Espinal scored on the play, and Luke Maile also scored when the ball went to the backstop after pitcher Cam Booser tried to throw it to the plate with his glove on a throwing error.

–Field-level media