CINCINNATI (AP) -- Just when Cincinnati's starting pitching seemed to be stabilizing, Travis Wood got pounded.
Wood allowed five runs in the first inning and seven overall before in leaving in the fourth, and the Reds fell 7-6 to the Florida Marlins on Friday night.
"There's no excuse for me giving up five runs in the first," said Wood, who turned in one of his worst starts since joining the Reds in the middle of the 2010 season. "I was missing spots and they were hitting them."
Wood (1-3) lasted 3 1-3 innings, matching the shortest start of his young career. He allowed seven earned runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts. He has allowed exactly eight hits in each of his last three starts.
Before Wood's washout, the Reds had a streak of eight consecutive games in which the starting pitcher allowed three earned runs or less.
Emilio Bonifacio, Hanley Ramirez and Gaby Sanchez each had two hits for the Marlins, who have won four of five and improved to 5-0 on Fridays.
Javier Vazquez (2-2) gave up four runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks in six innings. He also had two hits and an RBI.
"He hurt us as much with his hitting as he did with his pitching," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
Leo Nunez allowed two runs in the ninth on Paul Janish's RBI double and Drew Stubbs' RBI single. Stubbs stole second, but Bruce struck out looking to end it and Nunez escaped with his eighth save.
"That's the third or fourth time that's happened, where we've had the tying or winning run on base," Baker said. "We had action. That's all you can ask for. You do what you gotta do."
Home runs by Bruce and Jeremy Hermida couldn't help the Reds overcome Wood's rocky first inning as the Reds extended to eight games their trend of alternating wins and losses.
John Buck's second homer of the season and first since an Opening Day grand slam highlighted a 20-minute Marlins first in which they sent 10 batters to the plate, hit for the cycle and drew two walks.
Bonifacio tripled to lead off the game and scored on Omar Infante's sacrifice fly. Buck, hitless in his last 12 at bats, lined a 2-2 pitch into the first row of the right-field seats for a 4-0 Florida lead.
"It was supposed to be a fastball in, and it ended up around the middle of the plate," Wood said. "He put a good swing on it."
Vazquez capped the scoring by grounding a single up the middle for his first RBI since 2009, when he was with Atlanta. He spent last season with the New York Yankees and had five plate appearances.
"(Wood) was missing tonight," Baker said. "When he wanted to go in, it went out, and when he wanted to go out, it went in. He was belt high, and he's usually around the knees."
Bruce hit his fourth home run of the season, a 432-foot shot to center field, with one out in the bottom of the first. Hermida added a three-run shot to right in the fourth, his first hit with Cincinnati since being called up from Triple-A Louisville on April 18.
NOTES: Florida OF Chris Coghlan was available to pinch-hit Friday after leaving
Wednesday's game against Los Angeles with tendinitis in his right
shoulder. Manager Edwin Rodriguez said Coghlan could start Saturday. ...
Cincinnati 1B Joey Votto walked in the fourth to extend to 26 his
streak of consecutive games in which he's reached base at least once.
Votto has played in every Reds game this season. ... Slumping Cincinnati
LF Jonny Gomes didn't start and flied out as a pinch-hitter in the
eighth. Gomes went 2 for 18 while playing in five of the Reds' six games
on their last road trip and went into Friday's game hitting .200. ...
RHP Carlos Fisher made his first appearance since being recalled by
Cincinnati on April 22.
