BOSTON (AP) — Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit his first career grand slam during a five-run seventh inning and the Cincinnati Reds rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4 on Wednesday night.

Elly De La Cruz, TJ Friedl and Santiago Espinal added RBIs for the Reds.

Nick Martinez (6-8) pitched 6 2/3 innings, yielding four runs off nine hits to help Cincinnati avoid being swept in the three-game interleague series.

Wilyer Abreu hit a two-run home run for the Red Sox. Romy Gonzalez drove in two runs, including an RBI double in the seventh to pull Boston within 5-4.

Brennan Bernardino opened for Boston, pitching 1 1/3 innings before handing off to Jorge Alcala and then Chris Murphy. That trio held Cincinnati to three hits and no runs over 5 2/3 innings before Greg Weissert took over.

Weissert (2-3) got the final out of the sixth. But things fell apart in the seventh when Stephenson led off with a single, followed by Rece Hinds reaching on a fielder’s choice and Gavin Lux walking to load the bases for Encarnacion-Strand. Weissert was pulled after surrendering five runs off four hits.

Earlier Wednesday, Abreu hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth to help Boston earn a 5-3 win in the completion of a game suspended by rain on Tuesday.

Key moment

Abreu jumped on Martinez’s changeup in the sixth, driving it over the right-field wall and into the Reds’ bullpen beyond the reach of Hinds. It came after Hinds had made a catch against the same wall in the fifth, robbing Jarren Duran of an extra-base hit.

Key stat

Encarnacion-Strand’s grand slam was Cincinnati’s sixth of the season.

Up next

LHP Andrew Abbott (7-1, 1.79 ERA) will start for Cincinnati when it opens its three-game series at Philadelphia on Friday. RHP Lucas Giolito (4-1, 3.99) is scheduled to start for Boston at Washington.

Reds 8, Red Sox 4

Cincinnati						Boston
	ab	r	h	bi			ab	r	h	bi
Friedl cf	5	1	1	0		Duran lf	4	0	1	0
McLain ss	4	0	2	0		Anthony rf	4	0	0	0
De La Cruz dh	5	0	1	1		Toro 3b	4	0	1	0
Hays lf	5	0	1	0		Story ss	4	1	3	0
Stephenson c	5	1	2	0		Abreu dh	4	1	1	2
Hinds rf	4	2	0	0		Rafaela cf	4	1	2	0
Benson ph-rf	1	0	0	0		Mayer 2b	4	1	1	0
Lux 2b	3	2	2	0		González 1b	3	0	1	2
Encrncn-Strnd 1b	5	2	2	4		Wong c	4	0	1	0
Espinal 3b	4	0	1	1
Totals	41	8	12	6		Totals	35	4	11	4

Cincinnati	000	000	530	=	8
Boston	010	002	100	=	4

E–Friedl (1), Toro (5), Story (6). LOB–Cincinnati 9, Boston 5. 2B–Lux (16), McLain (9), Friedl (14), Rafaela 2 (17), Story (11), Mayer (5), González (13). HR–Encarnacion-Strand (6), Abreu (17). SB–McLain (12). SF–González (2).

	IP		H	R	ER	BB	SO

Cincinnati
Martinez W,6-8	6	2-3	9	4	4	0	2
Rogers H,8		1-3	1	0	0	0	1
Santillan	1		0	0	0	0	1
Pagán	1		1	0	0	0	2

Boston
Bernardino	1	2-3	1	0	0	1	2
Alcala	1	1-3	1	0	0	0	1
Murphy H,1	2	2-3	1	0	0	0	2
Weissert L,2-3 BS,3-8	1		4	5	3	1	0
Hicks		2-3	3	3	1	1	0
Criswell	1	2-3	2	0	0	0	1

Weissert pitched to 8 batters in the 7th.

Umpires–Home, Brian O’Nora; First, Mike Estabrook; Second, Laz Diaz; Third, Edwin Jimenez.

T–2:47. A–35,845 (37,755).