CINCINNATI (AP) — Santiago Espinal’s well-placed bloop single drove in two runs in the fifth inning, and the Cincinnati Reds beat Justin Verlander and the Houston Astros 5-3 on Monday.

Ty France had four hits as Cincinnati stopped Houston’s five-game win streak. Amed Rosario had two hits and drove in a run.

Yainer Diaz had two hits and three RBIs for the Astros in the opener of a three-game interleague series. Verlander (3-5) was charged with five runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Houston had a chance in the ninth, but came up empty. With Jason Heyward aboard after a leadoff single, Jose Altuve struck out looking against Emilio Pagán. Justin Wilson then earned his second save when he retired Yordan Alvarez on a liner to center.

Carson Spiers (5-5), the third of five Cincinnati pitchers, worked 2 1/3 innings for the win. He was charged with one run and three hits.

With Cincinnati’s top three starters on the shelf with injuries, manager David Bell has used a creative approach.

“The bullpen through all of this, it’s just unbelievable what they’re doing,” Bell said. “We understand what’s happening, and it means a lot.”

Verlander walked the bases full in the first inning. TJ Friedl hit a sacrifice fly, and France singled in Elly De La Cruz for a 2-0 lead.

“I was all over the place in that first inning,” Verlander said. “The mechanics, not good. The location needed to be better. I made some decent pitches that weren’t called but it’s hard to get pitches when you’re all over the place.”

Diaz responded with a tying two-run single in the third against Julian Aguiar.

Cincinnati went ahead to stay with a two-out rally in the fifth. With runners on second and third, Espinal’s blooper landed in shallow right field. Espinal swiped second and scored on Rosario’s single off Kaleb Ort.

“I felt the last few innings, especially the last couple, were a lot better,” Verlander said. “In the fifth inning, it was a tough pill to swallow.”

Cincinnati collected 13 hits, but it went 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

The Reds were coming off an extra-innings win on Sunday that salvaged the finale of their four-game set with NL Central-leading Milwaukee.

The Reds had pulled even with the Cardinals for second place in the division after a sweep of St. Louis in mid-August. It’s been rough going from there, with Cincinnati dropping 12 of 18 and sliding back down in the standings.

WORTH NOTING

The Reds recalled outfielder Blake Dunn from Triple-A Louisville and designated first baseman Dominic Smith for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: INF Alex Bregman missed a fifth straight game with elbow inflammation.

UP NEXT

After a rare day off in the middle of a series, Astros right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (7-11, 4.63 ERA) is the scheduled starter against Reds right-hander Nick Martinez (6-6, 3.78 ERA).

Reds 5, Astros 3

Houston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Altuve 2b	4	1	0	0	1	2	.294
Alvarez dh	4	0	1	0	1	1	.313
Diaz c	3	0	2	3	0	0	.300
Peña ss	4	0	0	0	0	2	.270
Singleton 1b	3	0	0	0	1	1	.231
Gamel lf	3	0	0	0	1	0	.308
Dubón 3b	2	0	0	0	0	1	.257
a-Caratini ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.277
1-Whitcomb pr-3b	1	0	0	0	0	1	.250
Heyward rf	3	1	1	0	1	0	.222
McCormick cf	3	1	1	0	0	0	.194
Totals	31	3	6	3	5	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
India 2b	3	1	1	0	2	0	.251
De La Cruz ss	3	1	0	0	2	2	.261
Stephenson c	4	0	2	0	1	2	.264
Friedl cf	4	0	1	1	0	1	.214
Steer lf-1b	4	0	0	0	1	1	.234
France 1b	4	1	4	1	0	0	.284
2-Dunn pr-lf	1	0	0	0	0	1	.053
Fraley rf	5	1	1	0	0	1	.270
Espinal 3b	4	1	2	2	0	1	.270
Rosario dh	4	0	2	1	0	1	.250
Totals	36	5	13	5	6	10

Houston	002	000	100=_3	6	0
Cincinnati	200	030	00x=5	13	1

a-singled for Dubón in the 6th.

1-ran for Caratini in the 6th. 2-ran for France in the 7th.

E–India (4). LOB–Houston 8, Cincinnati 14. 2B–McCormick (6), Alvarez (30), France (7). RBIs–Diaz 3 (78), Friedl (42), France (10), Espinal 2 (42), Rosario (4). SB–Fraley (17), Espinal (9), Steer (23), Friedl (8). SF–Diaz, Friedl. S–McCormick.

Runners left in scoring position–Houston 5 (Heyward 2, Peña, Singleton, Alvarez); Cincinnati 8 (De La Cruz 2, Fraley 5, Stephenson). RISP–Houston 2 for 9; Cincinnati 3 for 11.

GIDP–Peña.

DP–Cincinnati 1 (Espinal, India, France).

Houston	IP		H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Verlander, L, 3-5	4	2-3	8	5	5	4	3	107	4.52
Ort		1-3	1	0	0	0	0	8	1.15
Ferguson	2		3	0	0	1	4	34	2.70
Whitley	1		1	0	0	1	3	28	0.00

Cincinnati	IP		H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Aguiar	2	2-3	2	2	2	2	2	53	6.48
Moll	1	1-3	0	0	0	0	1	19	2.63
Spiers, W, 5-5	2	1-3	3	1	1	3	2	65	5.31
Pagán, H, 6	2	1-3	1	0	0	0	3	28	3.94
Wilson, S, 2-4		1-3	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.61

Inherited runners-scored_Ort 1-1, Moll 2-0, Pagán 2-1, Wilson 1-0. IBB–off Aguiar (Alvarez). WP–Ferguson. PB–Stephenson (3).

Umpires–Home, Chris Conroy; First, Shane Livensparger; Second, Brian O’Nora; Third, Brennan Miller.

T–3:03. A–24,606 (43,891).