NEW YORK -- All season long, Red Sox manager Alex Cora has had a mantra that his team has so often succeeded by.

¡°We¡¯re just trying to win the series,¡± Cora has said more times than you can count.

After a flat 9-1 loss to the Yankees in Sunday night¡¯s rubber game in the Bronx, the Red Sox have lost their last three series.

Making that tougher to swallow is that on all three occasions -- at Anaheim, home against the Phillies and at the Yankees -- Boston won the first game.

Cora does see a consistent theme in the recent lull, during which the team has lost four of five and six of nine.

¡°We haven't hit,¡± said Cora. ¡°We haven't hit since we were on the West Coast. We've been chasing pitches. We're in one of those stretches, kind of like when we played Houston [May 31-June 3]. We love to swing the bats, but we¡¯ve been chasing pitches out of the zone for a while.¡±

Before this inconsistent stretch, Cora¡¯s team was 16-7-5 in series this season.

With a strong showing this weekend, the Red Sox could have essentially buried a short-handed Yankees squad in the standings. Now, New York is still hanging around, seven games back.

In Sunday¡¯s game, the Sox didn¡¯t hit or pitch and the Yankees broke it open with a four-run bottom of the seventh.

The biggest positive is that the Red Sox are still in first place in the American League East, but basically by a thread (a half-game) over the Rays.

Perhaps, catcher Christian V¨¢zquez suggested, the Sox need to get their swag back.

¡°I think we need to continue to play hard, like we are in first place. We need to act more like we¡¯re in first place. I think that¡¯s the key for us,¡± V¨¢zquez said. ¡°We need to be more cocky, like ¡®We¡¯re in a good place.¡¯ And we¡¯re not acting like that. That¡¯s what I see right now.¡±

To hold on to their perch or expand the little breathing room they have right now, Boston will have to get back to winning series.

And it won¡¯t be easy given what is ahead this week.

First up is a three-game series in Buffalo against the Blue Jays. These are the same Blue Jays who have won four in a row and hammered Boston pitching when last the clubs met at Fenway Park from June 11-14.

Then, the Yankees, suddenly with a jolt of momentum after somehow winning a series against the Red Sox despite getting hit hard by COVID-19 and injuries the last few days, will come into Fenway for a four-game series that starts Thursday.

¡°It's part of the schedule,¡± said Cora. ¡°There are positives, but as a group, we need to get better.¡±

V¨¢zquez thinks it¡¯s just a matter of doing the little things.

¡°We need to stay together. It¡¯s not confidence,¡± V¨¢zquez said. ¡°We need to put everything together and do our job. It¡¯s little things, you know? Play the game right.¡±

Mart¨ªn P¨¦rez, who took the loss on Sunday, suggested there is nothing to worry about.

¡°I think we¡¯re OK. When we started the season, we lost three games and then after that we won nine in a row,¡± P¨¦rez said. ¡°We¡¯re going to get it together again. We¡¯re good. We¡¯re one of the best teams in the big leagues. [Monday] is going to be the start of a good series against Toronto. We¡¯re going to be fine.¡±