BOSTON -- The Red Sox completed a homestand that had everything but a satisfying finale. But even a 3-1 loss to the Giants on getaway Thursday couldn’t take anything away from the club’s satisfaction with going 4-2 on its second homestand after going 3-7 on the first one.

Manager Alex Cora’s club hits the road with an 18-14 record, and has handled an unusual rash of injuries (14 players are currently on the injured list) better than anyone could have expected.

“It was a great homestand,” said Cora. “It wasn’t better [than the last one], it was great. We played great. We pitched well. We played clean baseball. Sweeping at this level is very hard. So now we have Minnesota. We’ll try to do the same thing on the road.”

Now it’s back on the road, where the Sox are a sturdy 11-5. Boston will get a big test on this trip with a three-game set against the Twins -- winners of 10 in a row -- and a two-game series against the powerhouse Braves, owners of the best record in baseball at 20-9.

“Yeah, obviously we want to compete against the best all the time,” said Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill. “Minnesota obviously had a good year last year and they’ve got a lot of talent over there. We’re ready for a dogfight.”

Here are some storylines to watch on the trip.

The return of Grissom
The Red Sox have been excited about Vaughn Grissom since the day they acquired him in December for Chris Sale. But it has been slow going for the second baseman, who came to Spring Training with a sore right hamstring, then developed a groin injury and started the season on the injured list.

Grissom was supposed to debut on Tuesday against the Giants, but an untimely case of the flu left him out of the series. Grissom was working out at Fenway Park on Thursday and is expected to be activated for Friday night’s opener at Target Field.

Aside from getting a promising player in action for the first time, the fact that the Sox have lacked production from second base through the first month of the season makes it a bigger deal.

Here are where the Red Sox rank among MLB’s 30 teams in key offensive categories at second base:

• Average (.171, 29th)
• Walks (4, 29th)
• Strikeouts (36, 5th)
• OBP (.194, 30th)
• Slugging (.265, 28th)
• OPS (.459, 30th)

A reunion with Sale
On Tuesday night, in the opener of the two-game series in Atlanta, Sale is the likely starter for the Braves.

Not only will there be the subplot of the Sale-Grissom matchup, but this will be Sale’s first time facing the team with which he spent the last seven seasons, too much of which was spent on the IL.

However, Sale will always mean a lot to the Red Sox given his impact on the team’s World Series title in 2018 and the way his leadership and competitiveness helped the rest of the pitching staff.

Sale is always fired up, but facing the team that traded him as he entered the final year of his contract will ratchet him up a little more. The lefty is off to a solid start in Atlanta, going 4-1 with a 3.44 ERA.

This will mark the first time most of Boston’s roster will get to face Sale, and the matchups with Rafael Devers should be particularly intriguing. Rob Refsnyder (2-for-8, three walks) is the only Sox player with more than five career at-bats against Sale.

Can the rotation keep it up?
Boston’s rotation continues to be one of the biggest early-season surprises in the game. As the Red Sox hit the road, their starting pitchers lead the Majors with a 2.03 ERA.

Making it all the more impressive is that Lucas Giolito (who won’t pitch in 2024), Nick Pivetta, Brayan Bello and Garrett Whitlock are all on the injured list. Reinforcements are on the way, however. Pivetta made a rehab start for Triple-A Worcester on Thursday and could start one of the two games in Atlanta.

Bello has a rehab start scheduled for May 8 and should return for the next homestand. Whitlock remains in a holding pattern until the symptoms in his left oblique completely subside. He has at least been throwing off flat ground.