PITTSBURGH -- Despite an 8-2 loss to the Pirates on Thursday at PNC Park, the Red Sox won a third straight series. Now, they enter a stretch of 31 games in their final 43 of the season facing opponents in their strong American League East.

Boston has gone 15-30 vs. AL East rivals this season, and the team is four games out of a Wild Card spot. What will be key to turning the tide and making a run for October?

Here are three things that could make a difference.

1. Balancing hot and cold
Every player goes through periods of ups and downs during a season. Balancing them in a lineup will be crucial.

On the hot side of the plate has been Alex Verdugo, who has hit .356 with a .925 OPS since July 23. Eleven of his 32 hits have been stretched into doubles.

“When I play the game that I know how to play, and that’s letting the ball travel using the left-field line to the right-field line, that’s when all the success and my normal play kind of comes out,” Verdugo said. “When I try to force the hand and try to lift or try to pull stuff and hit for power, I don’t really hit for anything.”

On the other side, J.D. Martinez has hit .138 over his past 23 games, but dig into that a bit more and a trend has emerged of late that Boston is encouraged by. In the first 12 games of that stretch, Martinez drew only one walk and had a .125 OBP. In the past 11 games, he’s drawn eight walks to produce a .341 OBP.

Manager Alex Cora said he encourages his players who are going through tough stretches with the bat to swing less instead of more. The ability to get on base by any means helped the Red Sox produce three innings in which eight batters or more stepped to the plate over the first two games of the series in Pittsburgh.

“It’s not always about hitting the ball hard or getting hits,” Cora said on Wednesday, when his team tied a season-best mark of seven walks. “We walked today. … When you start controlling the zone, good things are going to happen.”

2. Rolling in the deep
Over their past three series, the Red Sox have won them all and gone 5-2. The key to that might have been the effectiveness of the rotation.

In those seven games, Boston’s starting pitcher has failed to get beyond five innings only twice. One came on Wednesday, when Rich Hill navigated five innings effectively on a fairly tight pitch count. The toughest of them all set the tone in Thursday’s lopsided loss, when Josh Winckowski labored through five innings and allowed six runs.

“The team overall is heading in a great direction. I think that makes tonight a little more frustrating for me,” Winckowski said. “Obviously, we’ve been on a roll, and I feel like I kind of knocked us off the rails a little bit with my own performance.”

With closer Tanner Houck out to begin this challenging stretch, it will be even more pivotal for the starters to go deep and allow the Red Sox’s most reliable arms -- including Garrett Whitlock (1.32 ERA in relief) and John Schreiber (1.89 ERA) -- to make a difference.

3. Coming back for a comeback?
And the biggest wild card in any postseason race: Injuries.

The Red Sox have a few players whose returns are sooner than later, including second baseman Trevor Story. He took batting practice at PNC Park and has hit off the machine this week, nearly a month after he was placed on the injured list with a hairline fracture in his right wrist. It indicates he should soon be ready to begin a rehab assignment if he continues to respond well to the increased hitting workload. Story has had bumps in the road offensively in his first season with the Red Sox, but he still has the raw power to change a game in an instant.

Some relief help will be on the way soon, too. Left-hander Matt Strahm should be activated during Boston’s series with the Orioles this weekend after he spent more than a month on the injured list with a left wrist contusion. Given the struggles of lefty Austin Davis (5.29 ERA, including nine runs allowed in six innings in August), it should provide an upgrade for matchups and in setting up the late-inning options.

Brayan Bello, the club’s top pitching prospect who has started and relieved at the big league level, flew to Triple-A Worcester to make his second rehab outing on Friday after sustaining a left groin strain on Aug. 4. He could miss close to the minimum 15 days if all goes well. Tyler Danish tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, but Cora hopes that when he tests negative, he may only need a few bullpens to make it back.