The Red Sox’ 11-3 loss to the Orioles here at Camden Yards Monday marked their 54th game of 2024. That means Boston (27-27) already is a third of the way through its regular season.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries,” Rob Refsnyder said. “Guys have really fought to be .500.”

The Red Sox sit in third place in the AL East, 9 ½ games behind the first-place Yankees and eight games behind the Orioles.

Red Sox’s Garrett Cooper runs toward home to score on a triple by Romy Gonzalez during the eighth inning Monday

Boston has dealt with an overwhelming number of injuries. To be exact, 16 players have combined for 16 IL stints. Trevor Story suffered a season-ending shoulder subluxation eight games into the season. Triston Casas hasn’t played since April 20 because of some fractured cartilage which connects his ribcage to his sternum. The slugger is on the 60-day IL and won’t return until June 21 at the earliest. DH Masataka Yoshida, meanwhile, hasn’t played since April 28 because of a left thumb strain.

Lucas Giolito, Boston’s most expensive free agent addition, underwent a season-ending internal brace procedure on the partially torn ligament in his pitching elbow during spring training. Starter Garrett Whitlock also is done for the season. He’s possibly headed for the same surgery after suffering a tear in his elbow ligament.

“Obviously we’re missing three big bats in the lineup but the guys that are playing are doing an outstanding job,” manager Alex Cora said. “Romy (Gonzalez) had a good game today. Ref did the same thing. Dom (Smith) put good at-bats. So we feel good where we’re at. Obviously it’s not enough. But I feel really good with the group and what we were able to do in this first part.”

Boston is 2 ½ games behind the Twins for the third and final Wild Card spot.

“Right there in the Wild Card,” Refsnyder said. “I think all of us can agree that we’d like to be playing better. Offensively, we just need to catch some breaks, just (have) better at-bats honestly. Probably with guys in scoring position we need to do a better job capitalizing on that. We all know that.”

The Red Sox rank 14th in runs scored (235) and batting average (.243). They are tied for 12th in on-base percentage (.313). They are 10th in slugging percentage (.402) and ninth in OPS (.715).

They rank 21st in the majors in batting average with runners in scoring position (.239). They also are 20th in OBP (.321) and 21st in slugging percentage (.388) in that category.

“We’re working behind the scenes and trying to get better at it,” Refsnyder said. “I think a breakthrough is coming honestly. So just keep going. I doubt a lot of people would think that we’d be .500 with this many injuries, especially to our key players like Triston and Trevor. And Lucas in spring training. But the young guys are figuring it out. I like where we’re at. Honestly I think we’ve got some really good baseball ahead of us.”

Pitching has been the bright spot. Behind new pitching coach Andrew Bailey, the Red Sox rank third in team ERA (3.22) and fifth in starter ERA (3.10).

“They’ve been so, so good,” Refsnyder said. “I think they’re the reason we’re at .500, 27-27. Yeah, they’ve been working really, really hard. … They keep us, it seems like, in every game. So as an offense we’ve got to step it up.”

Cora added, “We’ve got to continue to pitch. We’ve got to be better defensively. I think the other aspects of the game are going to be fine.”