At 5-1 and heading home, Red Sox have some cleaning up to do -- or else

MIAMI – All wins count the same in the standings, and they come with no asterisks, no explanations necessary. There are no style points, only results.

Still, Alex Cora wasn’t about to kid anyone after his Red Sox managed a 4-2, 13-inning win over the Miami Marlins very nearly in spite of themselves.

“We stole that one, honestly,’’ acknowledged Cora. “We need to get better in a few aspects of the game, as we all know.’’

Indeed they do.  This wasn’t one to savor. Rather, it was one to survive. To their credit, the Red Sox did – barely.

Chris Sale needed 27 pitches to get out of the first inning and was done after just five against a lineup that hardly qualifies as imposing.

After a temporary bust-out Monday in which they scored a season-high seven runs, the bats went back into hibernation for much of Tuesday, going nine consecutive innings without a run.

And on the bases, the Red Sox, invoking comparisons to last season, continued to be mindless at times, running into inexcusable outs at third and at home.

Sale acknowledged the night was a grind. It started right from the first inning when the Marlins managed to extend at-bats and force him into an absurdly high pitch count after just three outs. But that taxing first meant Sale was done after just five.

Fortunately for Cora, the Red Sox are off Wednesday and he could use his bullpen without fear of jeopardizing their chances to win tomorrow. Still, it’s the kind of strain that good teams can withstand too often.

The funk the offense has experienced in the first week is mystifying. Yes, the Sox faced some tough pitching in Tampa Bay with Chris Archer and Blake Snell, but they also managed only three runs against the Rays when Tampa emptied their bullpen.

You can’t blame the cold weather, which will hit them on the upcoming homestand: the first four games were played in a climate-controlled dome and the last two were played with game-time temperatures in the low 70s.

J.D Martinez looks caught in between a bit at the plate and has just one extra-base hit in 20 at-bats. Jackie Bradley Jr. is, almost predictably, in an early-season slump. Add it all up and the Sox have managed to score more than four runs just twice inside of nine innings.

But perhaps the most maddening part of Tuesday night was the inexcusably sloppy baserunning.

After leading off the fifth with a leadoff double, Rafael Devers saw fit to try to advance to third on a comebacker to the mound. Miami starter Jose Urena had plenty of time to pivot and throw to third to cut down Devers.

In the eighth, another leadoff double ended badly. Bradley doubled, took third on a deep flyout, and then, with the Marlins playing the infield in, went home on contact when Eduardo Nunez hit a grounder to the right side which second baseman Starlin Castro fielded on the infield grass.

True, it took a terrific swipe tag on the part of catcher Chad Wallach and had to withstand a replay challenge by the Sox. But it was one more example of careless baserunning that Cora had vowed to eradicate all spring.

“It wasn’t the best baserunning road trip for us,’’ Cora conceded. “We’ve got to get better.’’

That’s a massive understatement. While Cora consistently cited the fact that the Sox ran into a MLB-high 81 outs on the bases last season and termed that unacceptable, the Sox have run into six outs in six games, putting them on pace for 162 for the season – or exactly double last year’s ridiculously high total.

Cora theorized that, after the Sox were instructed to run ultra-aggressively last year to help make up for their lack of power,  they’re finding it a hard habit to break even with all the attention paid to the problem in spring training.

“It’s in their DNA,’’ he said. “It’s hard. I don’t want to take away their aggressiveness, but we’ve got to get better and they know it.’’

Again, ugly wins aren’t ugly after the fact. Credit the Sox for beating up on two lowly teams and overcoming their own shortcomings.

“It’s 5-1,’’ said Cora of the first swing. “We’ll take it.’’

By any measure, that’s a successful road trip. But the quality of opposition will soon get tougher and if the Red Sox are to keep winning, they’ll need to sharpen their game.