BOSTON — Right fielder Roman Anthony accepted blame for letting a ball drop between him and second baseman Marcelo Mayer in shallow right field during Cincinnati’s three-run eighth inning Wednesday.

He also took responsibility for rushing a throw to second base.

The Red Sox lost 8-4 to the Reds here at Fenway Park after leading by three runs through six innings.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s 207-foot fly ball landed between Mayer and Anthony with runners at first and second base and one out.

Both runners held up to see if the ball would be caught. Anthony picked up the ball quickly and should have had an easy force-out at second base. But he overthrew second, loading the bases.

“Just bad communication on my end,” Anthony said. ”I’m the outfielder coming in. He’s going back. And the ball just kind of stayed up. So I gotta make that play and gotta make that throw at the very least. But that one’s on me. Just gotta call him off there as the right fielder, knowing that that’s my priority.”

Mayer also said he must do a better job of communicating.

“I know I was super close to the play,” Mayer said. “It’s a play that I think I should make every single time. But yeah, I think he just placed it really well and we’ve got to do a better job of communicating.”

Anthony didn’t want to make any excuses after being asked if he had trouble gripping the baseball before throwing it to second base.

“No. I mean, it just can’t happen,” Anthony said. “I just grabbed it and threw it. And gotta get under control there and at least get an out. So I’m not blaming the grip. That play’s got to be made.”

Santiago Espinal followed with an RBI single that gave Cincinnati a 6-4 lead.

The Reds went ahead 8-4 moments later on Trevor Story’s fielding error.

The Red Sox played the infield in with the bases loaded and one out. TJ Friedl’s grounder went off Story’s glove and Gavin Lux scored easily from third base.

Mayer backed up Story and fired the ball to third base, trying to cut down Encarnacion-Strand going from second to third. But Encarnacion-Strand had already rounded third base by the time Mayer threw it.

Third baseman Abraham Toro’s throw home was late. Encarnacion-Strand scored.

Catcher Connor Wong then threw late to third base as Espinal advanced from first to third base.

“Weird play. Obviously Trevor got a really tough hop right there and it kicked the way that it did,” Mayer said. “I threw it to third and obviously Toro has his back to the play so he can’t really see anything. But just a weird play. I don’t know if I should have gone home. I kind of saw him peek back and check to see what I was going to do. And then when I threw it to third, I saw him break.”

Anthony’s two mistakes, meanwhile, overshadowed a nice diving catch he made earlier in the game.

“Just gotta be better at the little things,” Anthony said. “You can make all the great plays you want but those little plays late in the game are the ones that kind of sting the most.”