Red Sox Notes: ‘Great’ Homestand Sets Boston’s New Expectation

BOSTON — The Red Sox had been road warriors throughout the early portion of their season, earning an 11-5 record away from Fenway Park.

It seems they’re starting to get that whole “Green Monster” thing down pat, though.

“It was a great homestand,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Thursday. “It wasn’t just better, it was great. We played good baseball, we pitched well, we played clean baseball.”

The Red Sox dropped the finale to their series with San Francisco on Thursday but otherwise had a tremendous six-game stretch against a pair of National League opponents. The Cubs came in and dropped two games, paving the way for the Giants to do much of the same.

Boston finished 4-2 before hitting the road again, bringing its record to 7-9 at the Fens. It isn’t necessarily good, but the Red Sox are improving, and that’s all you can ask for given a brutal stretch of injury luck thus far.

“It’s just a matter of time before we gel and really get going,” Tyler O’Neill said.

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Here are more notes from Thursday afternoon’s matchup between the Red Sox and Giants:

— The Red Sox weren’t able to get much going offensively, striking out 11 times and recording just four hits. It was another inconsistent performance from a unit still looking to gel.

— Naoyuki Uwasawa made his major league debut and retired all six batters he faced. He’s the first Japanese-born player to ever accomplish that feat without allowing a single baserunner.

“There obviously was a lot of nerves running through my body,” Uwasawa said postgame, through his translator. “It was great. … I’ve worked with the team on my splitter, and I was able to do what we’ve been working on.”

— Mike Yastrzemski homered Thursday at Fenway Park, marking the second time in his career that he belted one out of the ballpark his grandfather, Carl, helped make famous.

— Boston’s next two series will come against the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves, which are two of the hottest teams in baseball.

“It’s nothing new for us,” Cora said postgame. “… It’s a challenge on a daily basis.. We’ll play tomorrow, see where it takes us.”

— The Red Sox will kickstart that rare five-game road trip Friday, as they’re set to take on the Twins at Target Field. It’ll be the first meeting between the Grapefruit League rivals this season, with first pitch scheduled for 8:10 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.