CINCINNATI — The Red Sox and Reds lead their respective leagues in stolen bases. Friday night’s interleague game at Great American Ball Park seemed set up for a track meet.
Instead it was a game of solo home runs and two game-changing errors as the Reds topped the Red Sox, 5-2, before a crowd of 37,146.
It was the end of a five-game win streak for the Sox, who were held to six hits, struck out 14 times and committed three errors.
The Red Sox lead the league in that category, too, and it was their undoing in this game as they all came in a two-run seventh inning for the Reds.
“We opened the door for them,” Sox manager Alex Cora said.
Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford had retired 10 straight going into the seventh inning and had thrown only 77 pitches. Cora said it was an easy decision to leave the righthander in to face the bottom third of the Cincinnati order.
“It means a lot for him to run me out there in that situation,” said Crawford, who made it a priority to work deeper into games this season. “Obviously it didn’t go as we planned.”
Santiago Espinal, the Red Sox prospect traded to Toronto for Steve Pearce in 2018, reached on a throwing error by second baseman Enmanuel Valdez to open the inning.
Crawford retired Will Benson on a fly ball to center field but Luke Maile doubled to right and Espinal took third.
Lefthander Cam Booser replaced Crawford and disaster struck.
TJ Friedl dropped a squeeze bunt down in front of the mound. Booser tried to scoop the ball to the plate with his glove but it went over Wong’s head to the backstop as two runs scored.
“Great effort. We just didn’t execute,” Wong said.
Rafael Devers had a throwing error later in the inning but righthander Brad Keller was able to leave the bases loaded.
Jarren Duran (2 for 4, hit streak now at 11 games) singled in the eighth inning but didn’t advance. Wong singled in the ninth (2 for 4, hit streak also at 11 games) and ended the game stranded at second as Masataka Yoshida struck out and Dominic Smith grounded out.
Yoshida is 4 for 30 with one RBI since coming off the injured list.
The Reds used four pitchers to get the final 10 outs. Righthander Alexis Diaz pitched the ninth for his 17th save.
There were no stolen bases in the game. Go figure.
The teams played home run derby over the first three innings, hitting five solo shots as the Reds took a 3-2 lead.
Jeimer Candelario got it started, connecting on a poorly located fastball from Crawford in the first inning and lining it into the stands in right field.
Wong picked his batterymate up with a line drive into the seats in left field in the second inning off lefthander Andrew Abbott.
Jonathan India jumped on a first-pitch sweeper that didn’t sweep in the second inning and the ball soared out to left field.
The Sox tied it up again when Duran sent a changeup halfway up the bleachers in right field. It was his seventh of the season.
Candelario struck again in the third inning, again to right field when he hammered a first-pitch fastball.
“Kind of a punch in the mouth,” Crawford said. “Tried getting ahead first pitch and he jumped all over it.”
Romy Gonzalez led off the sixth inning with a single and took second on a passed ball. But Abbott struck out Devers. Reliever Fernando Cruz, a righthander, came in to face Wong and struck him out swinging at a 96-m.p.h. fastball.
Crawford was charged with five runs, three earned, over 6⅓ innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
“It was actually an interesting outing for Kutter,” Cora said. “The homers and traffic [on the bases] early on and after that he was dialed in.”
Crawford had a 1.75 ERA in his first eight starts, allowing two home runs over 46⅓ innings.
Crawford has a 5.43 ERA in the eight starts since and has allowed 11 homers over 46⅓ innings.
With better defense behind him, Crawford might have salvaged a victory Friday.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe.