McAdam: Even with three-straight losses, Red Sox ability to avoid dips has been remarkable

The 2018 season is more than three-quarters complete and the Red Sox are winning at a record-setting pace.

They have the best record in the game, the second-largest lead of any division leader and, at their current rate, will shatter the franchise record for most wins in a season. They could lose more games than they win from here until the end of the regular season and still easily become the first Red Sox team in more than 70 years to top 100 victories.

Their 6-3 setback to the Cleveland Indians Tuesday night stretched their losing streak to three games, tying a season-high skid they first experienced back in late April and early May.

Or, put another way: with less than six weeks remaining in the season, the loss last night represented the first time all season that the Sox have lost games in three consecutive days. (The three-game slump earlier this year included an off-day between the second and third defeats).

And nevermind the two short losing streaks — the Sox haven't had an extended stretch of even mediocre play since that first "streak'' took place. From April 21 through May 18, they were 13-13.

Since then? They've been 58-24, for a .707 winning percentage. And before their .500 streak in late April through the third week of May? They were 17-2, a winning percentage of .895.

So aside from a four-week stretch in which they broke even, the Red Sox have played .742 baseball.

This can't continue, can it?

Or can it?

Last season, three teams -- Houston, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Dodgers -- won more than 100 games, which the Red Sox almost certainly will accomplish.

It's easy to forget that the Dodgers were on a very similar pace to the one the Red Sox are currently on when the bottom temporarily fell out of their season starting in the final week of the season. On the morning of Aug. 26, the Dodgers were 91-36, exactly three games ahead of where the Sox currently sit.

Then, they lost 16 of their next 17 and 20 of their next 25. The team that could do no wrong could suddenly do no right.

"Thinking back on it, it was miserable at the time,'' said Red Sox hitting instructor Tim Hyers, who was the Dodgers' assistant hitting coach last season. "Everything that the team was trying, that the players were trying, just kind of backfired at the time. The chemistry just kind of took a different path. The team was winning so many games, and things were easy and just falling into place. Then, it just seemed like, when we got good pitching, we didn't hit. And when we hit, we didn't have pitching. We couldn't match it up.

''But (Dave Roberts) and the coaching staff and the players, they just kept grinding and doing what they knew how to do and that was stay with the process. And I think that's what helped them get out of it, players stuck to their work. They kept working. Some of the veterans pulled guys together and said, 'Things are going bad, the outside world is saying we've hit bottom, but we've got to stay strong.' They brought everyone together.''

Eventually, the Dodgers righted things. Their division lead never fell below 8.5 games, they won the division comfortably and advanced all the way to the seventh game of the World Series before bowing to the Astros.

The amazing thing is that such a skid hasn't hit the Red Sox -- yet.

For that, the Red Sox can thank their starting pitching, which has kept them in games from the very first week of the season. That, coupled with an explosive offense capable of coming from behind and a bullpen that's been sturdy enough, has allowed the Sox to stockpile wins.

And credit must go to first-year manager Alex Cora, who has provided his team with proper emotional ballast while keeping them focused on that night's game -- and only that night's game. There's been no looking ahead, or looking back. Cora has made sure that the Sox fixate only on the task at hand.

Not that they're completely immune from a freefall that could engender panic in the streets of New England.

But with nearly five months complete, it hasn't happened to date. Hyers hopes it won't.

"I've seen it, I've walked through it,'' said Hyers. "You feel helpless. I don't want to have to go through that again. It's not fun. But yes, it's gone through my head. It can happen. I don't care who you are. Good teams go through spells where they hit those losing streaks.''

The losing streak sits at three. In most seasons, that would hardly be noteworthy. For these Red Sox, it represents a low point.

"Sometimes, I hear people saying, 'It'll be good for them if they start losing,'" said Cora. "I don't believe in that. What good comes out of that? Losing? No. Even winning, we're learning about our team. There's learning when you win. But the whole thing about, 'They need to go through a bad stretch.' Not really, no. People don't like to lose.''

He would prefer to keep it that way.