Even though it ended with a 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants, the Red Sox’s second homestand of the season was a vast improvement over the first.

After going 3-7 at Fenway against the Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Guardians, the Sox returned home rejuvenated from a 4-2 road trip against the Pirates (sweep) and Guardians. As April turned to May, they went 2-1 in their series against the Chicago Cubs 2-1 and the San Francisco Giants.

Thursday was a quiet affair, in which the Giants out-hit their hosts 6-4 and eked out a victory to avoid being swept.

The Red Sox struck out 11 times, but could’ve done more with the baserunners they did have, which included five walks and a hit batsman, all gifted by Giants starter Kyle Harrison.

“We had our chances early on, we didn’t cash in,” manager Alex Cora said. “Overall, we didn’t do much.”

The Red Sox had managed to win the first two games of the series despite squandering at least one baserunner in 15 of 16 innings, but the wastefulness finally came back to bite them in the finale.

In the bottom of the first, Rafael Devers got on base on a hit-by-pitch and Tyler O’Neill and Connor Wong drew walks to load the diamond, only to have Garrett Cooper fly out to end the frame.

Buoyed by the outcome, Harrison managed to pitch five innings of one-run ball. The Giants left-hander’s start contained multitudes: seven strikeouts, but all five Red Sox walks. When Bobby Dalbec led off the bottom of the second with a walk, Ceddanne Rafaela, Zack Short and Jarren Duran struck out swinging. Devers and O’Neill began the bottom of the third with a single and RBI double before Cooper hit into an inning-ending double play.

As the sun faded behind the ballpark’s iconic home-plate facade, the innings grew quieter. The Red Sox went 1-2-3 in the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth. They were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

With the Twins on a scorching 10-game win streak and Saturday’s game in Minnesota shaping up to be a bullpen day, Cora had hoped for a long start from Josh Winckowski.

“Today would be a good day to go five, if possible,” the Sox skipper said. “Taking care of the bullpen, getting deep into the game, would be huge for us.”

The right-hander came close, pitching a solid 4.1 innings on just 53 pitches (31 strikes) before his manager called to the bullpen. His lone blemish was a home run by the only visiting player Red Sox fans may not hate to watch hit a ball out of Fenway Park.

Hours after receiving a visit from his grandfather, legendary Red Sox captain Carl Yastrzemski, Mike Yastrzemski got the Giants on the board first. Fifty-four years to the day that his grandfather had a two-homer game against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway, the younger Yaz led off the top of the third with a homer to the Boston bullpen.

“Any time you’re out there, you want to keep the team in the game,” Winckowski said. “Felt like I did that for a good amount. Would’ve liked a few more punchouts, but outs are outs.”

Other than the homer, he only gave up one other hit and two walks. He didn’t strike anyone out. In fact, Red Sox pitchers only combined for two strikeouts: one by Cam Booser, the other by Naoyuki Uwasawa.

“Been in a decent amount of two-strike counts, just probably not executing like I can,” Winckowski assessed.

The Giants finally broke through against Zack Kelly in the top of the seventh, stringing together three consecutive singles to retake the lead. Booser took over and faced Austin Slater, pinch-hitting for Yastrzemski, and limited the damage, only allowing one of the inherited runners to score on a sacrifice fly by Nick Ahmed before ending the frame.

The game saw utility infielder Short make his Red Sox debut after being acquired from the New York Mets the day before, and Uwasawa’s Major League debut. The veteran Japanese pitcher pitched the last two innings, getting the Giants in order in each frame.

“Strike-thrower, good hop on the fastball,” Cora lauded. “He’s a big-leaguer. He did a good job keeping the game in check. We just couldn’t do much against the bullpen.”

The Red Sox head out on the road once again. They’ll spend the weekend in Minnesota, playing three games against the Twins before a day off on Monday. After a two-game set in Atlanta, where they’re scheduled to face Chris Sale, they’ll have Thursday off and return home on Friday, May 10 to host the Washington Nationals.

“It was a great homestand,” Cora said. “We played good baseball. We pitched well. We played clean baseball.”

“Now, we go to Minnesota, and we try to do the same thing on the road.”