Giants 11, Red Sox 3 -- Three things we learned: Sox not competitive

The Red Sox dropped their second straight to the San Francisco Giants, 11-2. Here are three takeaways:

1. Red Sox weren't competitive

Losses -- like the one the Red Sox suffered Tuesday night, over 15 innings and nearly six hours -- are one thing. But Wednesday's loss was one-sided to the point of being embarrassing as the Giants, already leading comfortably, tacked on seven runs over the final two innings, including five in the ninth in an inning that saw them bat around, sending 10 hitters to the plate. For the game, the Giants were 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Hector Velazquez, a shadow of himself from a year ago, couldn't get the inning to end as the first six hitters reached  base. In the field, the Sox committed only one error, but couldn't seem to complete several double plays, extending innings. At the plate, the Sox appeared to be going through the motions at times, going down in order on just four pitches in the fourth inning. The loss means the Red Sox will lose a series for the fourth time in the last five and no matter the outcome in the series finale Thursday, will not emerge with a winning record in interleague play. More than anything, the Red Sox seemed like pawns in a game that was seemingly designed to get San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy his 2,000th career win, becoming just the 11th manager to reach that milestone.

2. Offense has been quieted of late.

Wednesday's lineup didn't include two of the Red Sox' most potent weapons, J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts, each nursing injuries. Betts has missed the last four games with a foot injury and Martinez left Tuesday's game with a groin strain. Then again, even with Martinez and Betts healthy and in the lineup, the Sox have struggled to score runs this month. After averaging close to six runs per game for most of the season, the Sox have scored just 55 in 15 games this month, an average of 3.6 runs per game. On Wednesday, they were no-hit by Giants starter Jeff Samardzija until Rafael Devers homered with two outs in the sixth. "Right now, we're not swinging the bat well,'' conceded Cora. "It's been going on for a while now. We've been expanding the zone for a while. You look at the numbers and it's a lot of strikeouts and not too many walks. It's an offense that's searching for hits and you can't do that. We haven't been good for a while. This whole month has been inconsistent with what we do.''

3. Devers reaches milestone

Rafael Devers, who hadn't homered since Sept. 3, finally connected for his 30th homer of the season. That made Devers the youngest player since 1965 to hit 30 homers and tied him with Butch Hobson for the most homers in a season by a Red Sox third baseman. It also meant that the Sox are the first team to ever have two players with 30 homers and 50 doubles in a season. His 84 extra-base hits are the most for a third baseman in franchise history and the most for any Sox player in a season before turning 23 since Ted Williams had 86 in 1939. "He's put it all together,'' said Cora. "He made some adjustments in the off-season and it's paying off. He's been working hard at it. Overall, if you had told me before the season (that he would get) .300, 30 (homers) and 100 (RBI), yeah, I would have signed the paper. We're very happy with him.'' Said Devers: "It wasn't something that's been on the mind. I just made the adjustments that I needed to make because I know it's been a while since I have hit one. I just had to control the strike zone more. It was more what I was swinging at that caused all the issues.''