Red Sox move into wild card spot with 7-4 win over Reds

Romy Gonzalez immediately followed with a double, and Smith walked to join him on the bases. After Bell’s ejection, Ceddanne Rafaela ground into a force out, scoring Gonzalez and erasing Smith, and advanced to second on a throwing error by Jonathan India.

This time, Duran blasted a ball 397 feet to center at 107.7 mph. It would’ve been a home run in seven ballparks, but at Great American, the leadoff man had to settle for his 22nd double and driving in Rafaela to make it a four-run fourth inning.

In the top of the sixth, the Red Sox attacked another lefty. When Buck Farmer gave up a two-out double to Hamilton, the Reds sent southpaw Brent Suter to the mound to face Duran. The leadoff man won the lefty vs. lefty matchup, singling to score Hamilton.

Then, who else but the King of the Road? Among players with at least 75 plate appearances, Refsnyder entered the day leading the Majors with a 1.059 road OPS. His two-run homer gave him a five-game hitting streak and inflated Boston’s lead to 7-1.

It was a bullpen day for Boston, and save for Chase Anderson, they emptied the tank. Zack Kelly opened with 2 2/3 innings of dominance, striking out three and allowing one hit, his first in his last 35 batters faced. Brennan Bernardino, Greg Weissert, and Cam Booser followed.

The Red Sox would be immediately grateful for their three-run sixth, when Brad Keller imploded in the bottom of the inning. He faced eight batters, and by the time he got Out No. 3, the Reds had scored three runs on four hits and a hit batsman, and the lead was back down to three.

Suddenly, the Reds had a little momentum, and the Red Sox offense stalled, going 1-2-3 against Suter in the seventh and eighth. Devers singled in the ninth, but his teammates struck out three times around him. Rather than being able to keep Keller in for a long relief outing and protect his higher-leverage arms, the Red Sox manager felt he needed his setup man. For the second game in a row, Chris Martin took care of business, setting the Reds down 1-2-3 in the seventh, and Justin Slaten pitched a scoreless eighth, working around a two-out hit batsman.

Kenley Jansen became Boston’s eighth pitcher, and converted his second save in as many days. A first-pitch pop-out, groundout, single, and flyout cemented the win. Since April 20, the veteran closer is 11-for-11 in save opportunities, with 15 on the season. It was also the first time since May 19 that the pitching staff put together a walk-less performance, the club’s seventh of the season.

“We asked certain guys a lot today, in the pitching department,” Cora said. “Overall, a great team performance. … We finished the trip the right way.”

“We’re coming together as a team and we’re picking each other up,” Duran told NESN’s Jahmai Webster.

The Red Sox are 42-36. They went 5-1 on this road trip to Toronto and Cincinnati, they’ve won 10 of their last 13 games and are 20-12 since May 19.

“It’s a longer lineup, a lineup that can do a lot of stuff. We’re very dynamic, and we went from a roster that we had some question marks early on in the season, and now it feels like it’s one of the best rosters, position-player-wise, that we’ve had in a while,” Cora said. “Everybody’s doing their part. They’re doing what we ask them to do, and they’re playing with joy.”

And if the regular season ended today, the Red Sox would get to keep playing.

____