The Red Sox used three pitchers compared to five for the Giants, but the story was the hitting.
A night after getting shut out, San Francisco mustered one hit after the fourth inning and five overall in a 6-2 loss. Many of the Giants’ at-bats were competitive and produced hard-hit balls, but not enough found grass. San Francisco registered the three best exit velocities of the night, but didn’t get much to show for it.
The Giants (14-17) are 5-10 on the road this year and could get swept at Fenway Park on Thursday.
For his first home run as a Giant, Tom Murphy scaled the Green Monster with a lined shot off a hanging slider. Murphy’s 407-foot solo shot left his bat at 106.4 mph.
The Giants signed the veteran catcher as an offense-first complement to starter Patrick Bailey. But before Wednesday, he was hitting .074 in 10 games — one of many Giants who had a slow April.
Murphy’s sudden strike broke an early scoreless stalemate, as Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford entered the evening with an American League-leading 1.35 ERA and looked the part. Former Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey has done tremendous work with Crawford and the rest of Boston’s staff.
The Giants have struggled in Blake Snell’s spot in the rotation — either with the reigning National League Cy Young winner on the mound or with an alternative in place.
In Fenway Park, San Francisco deployed the opener strategy, starting left-hander Erik Miller against the lefty-heavy top of Boston’s lineup. The Giants considered calling up Mason Black, who has a miniscule ERA in Triple-A, but instead recalled Daulton Jeffries to be the bulk arm.
Miller worked around consecutive walks for a scoreless first inning. Jeffries walked the leadoff man in the second, but also escaped with a scoreless frame.
But when Jeffries allowed an infield single to start the third inning, the Red Sox had their third leadoff man on in as many innings. They were due to cash in.
Jeffries was victimized by the Monster on a Rafael Devers double that was lofted off the wall with a .010 expected batting average. But Devers’ moon ball scored one of two Boston runs in the third, putting San Francisco behind 2-1.
A cheeky two-out bunt with runners on second and third from Mike Yastrzemski knotted the score in the fourth. Playing at Fenway Park, where his grandfather became an inner-circle Hall of Famer, is always special for the outfielder. So is his baseball I.Q..
But Boston answered immediately, again putting the leadoff man on against Jeffries and again using the Monster to drive him in. Then a stand-up triple from Jarren Duran made it 4-2.
The Giants offense needs all the help it can get, and it got little in Boston. Jung Hoo Lee’s lineout in the fifth would have left 14 of 30 ballparks. Right after that loud out, Jorge Soler snapped his bat over his leg in frustration because his 110.7 mph drive landed right in Devers’ glove.
Boston added to its lead with a run off Taylor Rogers and Luke Jackson as the Giants’ bullpen started to run out of middle-inning options. The recently acquired Mitch White also served up a run in the seventh on a two-out double to catcher Connor Wong.
The Red Sox could’ve scored more, too; they went 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Meanwhile, Crawford held the Giants hitless in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. San Francisco also went down in order in the eighth, despite another hard-hit ball from Lee, extending its hitless streak.
Up four runs, the Red Sox didn’t need to use their closer. Matt Chapman singled for San Francisco’s first hit since the fourth inning, but Thairo Estrada grounded into a double play to end it. To avoid a sweep in Boston, the Giants are going to need more hits — and more breaks.