BOSTON _ Home runs are up this season, and so are suspicions that the baseballs are wound tighter.
The Giants allowed five homers and hit two in an 11-7 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, with Hanley Ramirez turning three horsehide spheres into Yawkey Way souvenirs.
After their fifth consecutive loss, though, the Giants might be more tightly wound than the balls.
Matt Cain only lasted into the third inning and the Giants nearly erased an 8-0 deficit before Ramirez's third two-run blast of the night virtually ensured that Bruce Bochy's team would leave Fenway Park still looking for their first victory here in 101 years.
The Giants are 0-5 since the All-Star break after losing this two-game series. They could find two positives: their offense, despite leaving a maddening 11 runners on base, broke out of its doldrums. And over their winless stretch, they've only lost two games off their lead in the N.L. West. The Dodgers lost and still trail by 4{ games.
The Giants (57-38) and Red Sox do not travel in the same circles, but there was plenty of familiarity in this rare interleague matchup. Drew Pomeranz, whom the San Diego Padres traded to Boston in Saturday, was facing the Giants for the fourth time this season, and was winless against them despite a 2.60 ERA.
Ramirez and Cain also were well acquainted, having tangled 55 times over their careers with Cain allowing two home runs.
Ramirez doubled his output. He hit two-run shots in the second and third innings, the latter of which knocked Cain from the game after recording just seven outs. The Red Sox tacked on three more runs in the third when Albert Suarez, pressed into service, allowed extra-base hits to four of the first five batters he faced.
Pomeranz took the mound in the fourth with an 8-0 lead, a nasty knuckle curve and a victory in his Red Sox debut scheduled as out for delivery. Then the Giants stole it off his porch.
Pomeranz faced seven batters in the fourth, he didn't retire any of them, and remarkably, the Giants brought the tying run to the plate in an inning that they entered down eight.
Mac Williamson, who tumbled over the right-field fence while trying to catch Ramirez's first homer, found a much more satisfying way to leave the yard. He pounded a three-run home run, and after Grant Green singled, Trevor Brown put a moon shot over the Green Monster to cut the deficit to 8-5.
Two more singles ended Pomeranz's day, although reliever Robbie Ross Jr. stranded both inherited runners.
The Giants crept to within 8-7 in the fifth when they strung together a walk and three singles against former San Francisco prospect Heath Hembree, with Ramiro Pena's infield hit and Denard Span's dunker to right field each driving in a run.
