BOSTON -- The weekend started with an opportunity, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora was realistic about the challenge ahead of his team with the Blue Jays rolling into town.

“We knew that this stretch was going to be a tough one. But we cannot get ahead of ourselves. We've got a team that we're hunting, right? And they're right there [in the visitors’ clubhouse],” Cora said on Friday afternoon. “They've got a good team, and they've been playing great baseball very quietly. They're very solid.”

The hunt just got significantly tougher for Cora and his team.

The “very solid” Blue Jays came into Fenway Park and steamrolled the Red Sox this weekend, capped by a 13-1 rout on Sunday afternoon that completed a three-game sweep. It was quite the turnaround in the head-to-head series, as the Sox had won the first seven contests before this set.

In all three games, the Jays had a lead of three runs or more by the third inning.

“It was a tough one, especially losing to those guys,” said center fielder Jarren Duran. “We've been playing them good all year, and then they came in here and punched us in the mouth early.”

When the weekend started, the Blue Jays led the Sox by only two games for the third American League Wild Card spot. There were no other teams between Toronto and Boston in the standings.

As it concluded, the Mariners and Yankees had moved ahead of the Red Sox, who now trail Toronto by five games (four in the loss column) with 51 games left.

Cora’s club has lost seven of its past eight. In the 21 games prior, Boston had a 16-5 mark, the best in MLB over that span.

“Tough weekend, yeah. Real tough,” Cora said. “They pitched better than us, played better defense, ran the bases better and hit. There’s not much we have to say. They outplayed us the whole weekend. Obviously we’ve been through stuff like this the whole season, up and down -- we lose three, we win three; we lose six, we win six. So show up tomorrow and play good baseball. That’s all we can do.”

The Red Sox, who have been streaky all year, have no choice but to regroup and to get hot again with the Royals (36-77) coming in for a four-game series starting on Monday and then the Tigers (49-62) on Friday for the final leg of a 10-game homestand that doesn’t include a day off.

“Go home. Rest. Then show up tomorrow ready to work,” said Red Sox DH Justin Turner. “It’s obviously not ideal. Not the results we wanted coming into this weekend. But I promise you there’s going to be a baseball game tomorrow.” 

By later in the week, the Sox should get Trevor Story and Chris Sale back from the injured list. That’s why it is crucial Boston doesn’t lose more ground before then.

Story is taking the entire 20 days available to him on his Minor League rehab assignment, which expires Wednesday. That creates the possibility he will be in the lineup on Thursday for the finale of the series against Kansas City.

Sale, who dazzled in his second and likely final rehab start for Triple-A Worcester on Sunday, could be in line to start Friday’s series opener against the Tigers.

The returns of those key players -- plus righties Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock -- loom large for a team that rolled through most of July but is now hitting the dog days of August.

Cora did a masterful job in covering for the short-handed rotation by utilizing veteran Nick Pivetta and rookie Chris Murphy in bulk-relief roles.

Pivetta struggled for the first time in weeks on Saturday, and Murphy did the same on Sunday.

It is fair to wonder if the attrition will impact the pitching staff during this homestand without a day off. During the 16-5 run, the Sox had five days off, plus the four-day All-Star break.

Inside the clubhouse, the Red Sox are trying to be more narrow in their focus.

“You can make whatever you want of it. We lost three baseball games,” Turner said. “We are trying to chase down the Blue Jays, but there are a lot of other teams we’re trying to chase down as well. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We just have to show up and play better and get better results.”