TORONTO — Alex Cora recently said his club will go on a run. Despite inconsistent play and hovering around .500 for weeks at a time, the manager believed at some point, 10 wins out of 11 or 11 out of 12 was out there for the Red Sox.
This might be the time.
After they leaned on their base-stealing prowess to clinch a series victory Sunday night against the Yankees, the Red Sox didn’t need much speed Monday evening on the shores of Lake Ontario. The visitors pummeled Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikucki for four home runs in a 7-3 victory to open a three-game series against their fellow AL East chasers.
The Red Sox are 38-35, three games above .500 for the first time since they were 19-16 on May 5. They have won three straight and six of eight, and have scored 42 runs in their last six games.
Tyler O’Neill had two of the long balls, his first coming with two out in the first.
“We’re playing pretty good,” he said. “We’re pitching the ball well. Hitting. For us, one through nine, there are not really too many spots you can go. We’re just finding a lot of barrels, putting a lot of runs up on the board. It’s awesome to see. It takes pressure off everyone else too when we’re contributing like that, so it’s good and the boys are doing well.”
After O’Neill tattooed a 97-mile-per-hour fastball on the inner half to left field, Rafael Devers made it back-to-back home runs, his 14th going out to left-center.
Toronto got a run back in the second against Nick Pivetta, who walked former teammate Justin Turner to begin the frame. After a George Springer broken-bat single to right put runners at second and third with no outs, Isiah Kiner-Falefa made it 2-1 with a sacrifice fly. Connor Wong helped his pitcher get out of the inning, though, throwing out Ernie Clement at second on the back half of a double steal.
Ceddanne Rafaela quickly restored the two-run lead to open the third, sending a curve into the left-center seats. O’Neill’s second homer of the night and 14th of the season followed, a two-out changeup blasted out to center that made it 4-1.
“That’s why we tried so hard to keep Tyler in the lineup,” said Cora. “That’s on us to keep him healthy, because he can impact the baseball and it’s a better lineup when he is playing.”
Rafaela, meanwhile, is hitting .520/.556/.720 in his last seven games, flashing his overall skill set on the bases, at the plate, and in center field, where he made a diving snag Monday.
“When the season [began], that’s what I was trying to do. Now, I’m finding a way to do it consistently,” said Rafaela. “I think that feels good.”
Three straight singles in the fourth, the last by Bobby Dalbec, extended the lead to 5-1. That was enough for Pivetta, who went seven innings. He allowed nine hits and three runs, with Turner getting him for a double in the fourth and a solo homer in the sixth. Despite the traffic, Pivetta limited the damage.
“It was really positive,” Pivetta said. “I stayed away from the walks for the most part. [Connor Wong], me and him were on the same page for most of it. It was really good. The defense played really well behind me. Rafaela’s [diving play was incredible]. I think the biggest thing is the guy got some runs early and I was able to settle in.”
The Sox made it 7-2 in their half of the seventh, highlighted by a Rob Refsnyder RBI double, with Davis Schneider sending a Pivetta sweeper over the wall in the bottom half.
Brad Keller came within an out of finishing it, but a single and a walk led Cora to summon Kenley Jansen. The closer got Schneider to pop out for his 12th save of the season.
“We’re not trying to make anything too big,” said Pivetta. “We’re just trying to stay consistent and that showed up today.”
Julian McWilliams can be reached at julian.mcwilliams@globe.com. Follow him @byJulianMack.