There was little point in Red Sox manager Alex Cora thinking about how much ground the Sox could have made up in the last month.

The Twins hold the last wild card spot, but they are 6-14 in their last 20 games. Instead of seizing the opportunity, the Sox got stuck in the mud trying to put together a good offensive and defensive performance. They haven’t been much better than the Twins in their last 20 games, going 7-13. Now the Sox are battling with other teams for a playoff spot, but they are racing against time.

“I mean, it’s one less day on the calendar, right,” Cora said before the game. “You can look at it on the bright side, right. We’re still here and they’re coming here next week. But it’s one less day on the calendar and there are more teams involved. So it’s one of those where we haven’t played well since LA and now we’re paying the price.”

A 12-3 win over the Orioles helps the Sox on several levels – it narrowed the gap in the wild-card race to just three games, it potentially revived a dormant offense and it might have given Cora some ideas about how he wants to handle his lineups against left-handed pitchers.

The only two left-handers in the lineup were Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers. Otherwise, Cora used the right-handers and reaped the rewards.

Rob Refsnyder went 4-for-4 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs. Tyler O’Neill went 3-for-5 with a double, two home runs and three RBIs. Ceddanne Rafaella went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs.

“Maybe we’ll play like that the rest of the season,” Cora said. “We’ll play platoon the rest of the season and try to maximize the roster. Play aggressively with pinch hitters and stuff like that and see where that takes us.”

Refsnyder and O’Neill hit back-to-back home runs twice (in the third and eighth innings). The only other time in Sox history that the same two players hit back-to-back home runs in a game was on April 19, 1994, when Mo Vaughn and Tim Naehring did so in a 13-5 win over the A’s.

For Refsnyder, it was satisfying to see that the offense was working after a dry spell.

“It was a good feeling against a really, really good team,” Refsnyder said. “The Orioles are so balanced and can beat you in so many ways, so it felt good to be able to beat a team like that tonight.”

With 18 games left this season, the clock is ticking.

“We just have to keep going,” Refsnyder said. “Unfortunately, the offense has stalled the last few weeks. It sounds very clichéd, but at any point in the year the offense goes through these phases. Unfortunately, this happened at a really important time. It wasn’t for lack of effort. The guys stayed up for hours after the game talking about hitting and the approach. So all the guys really, really want it.”

Sox starter Brayan Bello has had success against the Orioles this season (2-1 with a 2.76 ERA in three previous starts), so he had a feeling this game wouldn’t go quite as smoothly.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy trip for me,” he said.

However, he never expected that it would be so complicated.

In the first inning alone, he faced seven batters, allowed a double, a single, a walk and a single, but only allowed one run. In the fourth inning, he managed three walks and a hit. All in all, Bello’s final full inning was relatively uneventful – a ground out by Adley Rutschman, a strikeout by Eloy Jiménez and a ground out by Colton Cowser – but after the fifth inning, he walked back to the dugout with his fists clenched and his arms pointing to the sky, almost relieved to get such a drama-free picture.

In 5⅓ innings, Bello allowed two runs on three hits and five walks with five strikeouts. The Sox are 18-9 in his starts.

“In the first inning, he was completely off in terms of his control,” Cora said. “He’s been really good all season. The difference is in his control of his throws. When he’s got them, he’s really good, when he’s struggling, that happens. But he’s made some great throws.”

The Sox have won three of their last four games after losing five in a row, which is a single-season record. They are 10-22 at home since the All-Star break.

Although they did not expect this run, they are still in the race and are fighting against both teams, leaving them little room for error.

“We’re right there — still right there,” Cora said. “I don’t know how. But they’re there every day. They work hard. And they did a great job today on offense.”

Julian Benbow can be reached at [email protected].