The box score: Giants 4, Red Sox 5, and Boston completed the sweep. But if you actually watched this series, the score is almost beside the point. San Francisco had a lead in all three games at Fenway this weekend and found a way to lose all three. That's a team that can't hold a punch, not bad luck.
Sunday was the clearest example. The Giants jumped on Boston starter Jake Bennett for two runs in the first and made it 3-0 in the second on a Jonah Cox homer. Two innings later, they were behind. Nick Sogard, a light-hitting infielder who'd homered exactly once before in his career, took Wilkinson deep to start Boston's response, then came back around later to spark a three-run fourth that flipped the game. Ceddanne Rafaela drove in two runs across the game, and Boston never trailed again after that fourth inning, even after Christian Koss brought San Francisco back within one late. Wilkinson took the loss. Boston's Jake Bennett got roughed up early, then retired most of the hitters he faced the rest of the way to pick up the win, and Aroldis Chapman closed it out.
If you're looking for the standout performer, it's Bennett, not Sogard. Anybody can get hot for one swing. What Bennett did, settling in after a shaky start and shutting the door for the length of an outing, is the kind of stuff that wins series for contending teams. Boston is chasing the top of the American League East, and performances like that are how you claw back at teams like Tampa Bay and the Yankees.
None of that is the real story of this weekend, though. The Giants are buried near the bottom of the National League West as this season winds down, and a meaningless loss in Boston shouldn't matter beyond the standings column. Except Willy Adames got hurt scoring a run in the first inning Sunday, sliding awkwardly into home, and it turned into a real injury. He landed on the injured list with what's since been described as a moderate UCL sprain, and word since the game has him considering a second opinion rather than a clear timeline back. Victor Bericoto also left the game with a knee issue, though he sounded more optimistic about avoiding anything serious.
The Giants shouldn't rush Adames back, and I don't think they will. When a team is this far out of contention this late in the year, there's no reason to gamble a franchise player's health on a September that doesn't matter competitively. If they're smart, they let him get the second opinion, let him heal, and worry about 2026 once his body cooperates on its own schedule. A three-game sweep at Fenway is forgettable. Losing a key piece to a lingering elbow problem in a game that decided nothing is the part of this weekend that actually lingers.
