Encarnacion-Strand hits his 1st career grand slam to power Reds' rally to beat Red Sox 8-4

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.

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.

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

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.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Boston Red Sox's Ceddanne Rafaela scores on a sacrifice by Romy Gonzalez against the Cincinnati Reds during the second inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu watches the flight of his two-run home run off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Martinez during the sixth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Martinez walks back to the mound with a fresh baseball as Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu, left, rounds the bases on his two-run home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Cincinnati Reds' Christian Encarnacion-Strand watches the flight of his grand slam drive against the Boston Red Sox during the seventh inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Cincinnati Reds' Christian Encarnacion-Strand, right, is congratulated by Rece Hinds (57) after his grand slam drive against the Boston Red Sox during the seventh inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)