The Red Sox inched closer to to making the postseason a reality.
With a large crowd of Mets fans tucked away in Fenway Park’s right-field grandstands, the Red Sox drowned out the sounds of the New York faithful whose team’s playoff chances are all but zero.
The Red Sox beat the Mets, 6-3, Tuesday night to keep their 1½-game lead over the Blue Jays for the top wild-card spot.
The Sox have rattled off six straight wins. They’ve done it four times in their City Connect yellow and baby blue uniforms.
“Hey we’re on a good run,” Xander Bogaerts said. “I don’t anticipate us changing [the uniform] tomorrow.”
Whatever edge can land the Sox in October baseball, even if it’s rooted in superstition, the team will pursue it.
On Tuesday, the Bogaerts-led Sox put on an offensive showing against a worthy pitching staff. Bogaerts belted a two-run shot off Marcus Stroman in the fifth, which put the Sox ahead, 4-2. He then added two more RBIs in the sixth against Brad Hand.
“I try not to chase,” Bogaerts said of the homer off Stroman. “I got myself in a good count, 3-1, and was able to hit a pitch he left pretty much over the middle of the plate.”
Stroman has had success against the Red Sox during his tenure in the big leagues. Heading into Tuesday’s start, the Mets righthander carried a 3.44 ERA when facing the Sox in 14 starts and 86⅓ innings of work.
Through the first three frames Tuesday, the Red Sox couldn’t quite solve Stroman but certainly made him uncomfortable, specifically in the third.
José Iglesias led off with a double down the left-field line. A hit batsman followed by a walk to Kyle Schwarber loaded the bases, giving the Sox their first chance to strike. Nevertheless, they would come up empty as Bogaerts grounded out into a double play and Rafael Devers flied out to shallow left field.
The Sox finally got to Stroman in the fourth aided by a Kevin Pillar blunder. Stroman fanned J.D. Martinez and Alex Verdugo, but Bobby Dalbec’s double kept the frame alive. Christian Vázquez then lined a pitch in the direction of Pillar, who took a step in and got burned as the ball sailed over his head and toward the wall, trimming the Sox’ deficit to one run.
Kiké Hernández stroked a game-tying solo shot off Stroman in the fourth. Later on that inning, Bogaerts delivered the definitive blow with his two-run homer to give the Sox a 4-2 lead.
“I mean we put together good at-bats,” manager Alex Cora said. “He’s a really good pitcher. The way he uses his pitches, his sinker and cutter, he kind of frustrates you.”
On the other side, Eduardo Rodriguez navigated his way through three scoreless innings of his own but he, too, would find himself in a bases-loaded jam.
In the fourth, Rodriguez walked Francisco Lindor, then allowed a Javy Baez single. Rodriguez then walked Pete Alonso and J.D. Davis to bring in the first run of the contest. Michael Conforto’s single to the left side beat the shift, stretching the Mets’ lead to 2-0.
In the sixth, the Sox put two on with two outs against reliever Miguel Castro, forcing the Mets to dig deeper into their bullpen. Hand walked Schwarber and Bogaerts delivered two more runs with a grounder through the right side.
Rodriguez lasted just 4⅓ innings and was replaced by Ryan Brasier with runners on first and third.
“I feel like the first three innings were really good,” said Rodriguez. “And then I ran [away] from the plan and I wasn’t able to throw a pitch in the strike zone.”
Brasier (1-1) steered his way through Rodirguez’s doing, striking out Baez and inducing an Alonso ground out to end the threat.
Darwinzon Hernandez, the sixth Sox pitcher, came on in the ninth and got the final two outs.
The yellow jerseys surrounded by a sea of red aren’t coming off this Sox team — at least not until a loss demands it.
They’ll do anything to discover a night of wild-card baseball in October.
“We need wins right now,” Bogaerts said. “So if it’s yellow, it’s yellow.”
Julian McWilliams can be reached at julian.mcwilliams@globe.com. Follow him @byJulianMack.