The Red Sox opened a critical road series against the Blue Jays on Tuesday with a 4-1 win over Toronto — giving Alex Cora’s club some much-needed breathing room in a tightening American League Wild Card race.

As a result of Tuesday’s win — and a myriad of other results across MLB — the Red Sox (86-71) are holding steady in second place in the AL Wild Card standings, three games back of the Wild-Card leading Yankees (89-68).

With the AL East and potentially the top Wild Card seed out of reach for Boston with just five games remaining in the regular season, the top priority for the Red Sox is to simply punch their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2021.

Tuesday was a positive step forward in that endeavor, especially with the Houston Astros losing to the A’s later that nig

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