BOSTON -- It was somewhat surprising to hear Red Sox manager Alex Cora say a couple of times recently that Xander Bogaerts has been “battling” with his swing since coming off the COVID-19 injured list on Sept. 10.

Well, it’s a battle that Bogaerts keeps winning. He certainly did on Saturday, when he hammered the baseball all afternoon as the Red Sox continued to push hard toward a postseason berth by battering the Orioles, 9-3, at Fenway Park.

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With 12 games left in the season, Boston (85-65) is 20 games above .500 for the first time in two weeks. Cora’s squad holds the top American League Wild Card spot by one game over the Blue Jays, who beat the Twins on Saturday, and 1 1/2 over the Yankees, who were routed by Cleveland.

“It’s fun, being able to go out there and help your team. We know that every game matters right now,” said Bogaerts. “We’re at a point in the season where every game is huge regardless of how you get them. It’s fun that everyone is playing pretty much their best game as of the moment.”

One thing that would help the Red Sox greatly is if their offense can start to resemble the high-powered machine it was earlier in the season.

Of late, that has been the case. The Red Sox have scored seven runs or more in each game of this four-game winning streak.

It sure helps to have Bogaerts back in the swing. The All-Star shortstop, Boston’s unquestioned leader, turned a close game into a rout when he blistered a three-run homer off a sign beyond the Monster Seats to cap a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth.

It seemed that everything Bogaerts put his bat on was scalded. He kept a three-run rally going in the first inning with a 98.5 mph single to right. In the third, Bogaerts was the victim of bad aim, hitting a 108.8 mph lineout to left. But he got back in the hit column in the fifth with an RBI single (105.1 mph exit velocity) that snapped a 3-3 tie.

Then came the crowning moment in the sixth, when Bogaerts tore into a first-pitch fastball on the inner and upper portion of the zone that left his bat at 104.3 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected distance of 419 feet for his 22nd homer on the season.

“It starts with a line drive the other way,” said Cora. “Sometimes he becomes pull-happy, but he went the other way, and then after that it was barrel after barrel. And obviously the home run, that was the highlight of the day for him. But I think the line drive right away, going first pitch, hitting it hard the other way, was the beginning of a great day.”

Since his return last weekend in Chicago, Bogaerts is 11-for-30 (.366 average) with seven runs, one double, one triple, two homers and four walks.

Yet Bogaerts agrees with Cora’s assessment that it has been a battle. That just shows how gifted Bogaerts is, and how much he expects of himself.

“I enjoy expecting a lot of myself. Whatever they expect of me, I expect twice, three times more than that,” said Bogaerts. “I find it fun that way, and that’s the way that I do it, and I appreciate that about myself. It’s not like I’m coming in here lollygagging every day. It’s fun for me that way. That fuels me.”

The two months before Bogaerts tested positive for COVID-19 were his toughest of the season. From July 1 through Aug. 31, Bogaerts slashed .247/.327/.420 with seven homers and 22 RBIs.

So maybe the break helped, though he clearly didn’t want one.

Houck provides relief -– and gets elusive ‘W’
In 12 starts this season, Red Sox righty Tanner Houck is 0-4 with a 4.02 ERA. Cora moved him to the bullpen for the stretch run, and that paid off in a big way on Saturday.

On a day Nick Pivetta was pulled after only 3 2/3 innings (seven hits, three runs), Houck was able to get eight big outs for the Red Sox. The righty walked none and struck out three, facing nine batters and throwing 42 pitches.

Houck came on with the game tied and was able to finally get his first win of 2021 and fourth of his career.

The outing was reminiscent of Houck’s relief effort at Yankee Stadium on July 16, when he fired three scoreless innings. His power arm gives the Red Sox another significant weapon in the middle to late innings.

“Today, coming in with runners on, that’s not what I’ve done in a while,” said Houck. “Having that today was a different experience, but it’s still 60 feet, 6 inches. It’s about going out there and putting the team in the best spot to win. So I came in today, felt pretty good with everything and really went at hitters, and it was a really positive thing to take away from today.

“Regardless of the circumstances of starting or relieving or whatever it is, I’m just happy I went out there and went right at hitters and threw strikes with all my pitches today.”