Boston’s Rob Refsnyder, right, is congratulated after his second home run of the night during Monday’s 12-3 win over the Orioles. Charles Krupa/Associated Press

BOSTON — For the longest time, the Red Sox have been waiting for everything to click at once.

There have been stretches when they’ve pitched, but didn’t hit. There have been others when they’ve had to hit, if only because they didn’t pitch.

Then, miraculously, they did both Monday night in Game No. 144.

Brayan Bello wobbled at times, but survived a shaky first inning and pitched into the sixth, allowing just two runs. Meanwhile, the lineup exploded for 15 hits – four of them homers – and a dozen runs. It took almost five and a half months, but with time running out on their season, the Red Sox displayed a balance that has eluded them for much of the season.

“I feel like offensively, we’re getting there,” said Manager Alex Cora following the 12-3 thumping of the Baltimore Orioles. “I think the at-bats are getting better. If we get into a streak like we did in the summer…We hit the whole summer and we put ourselves in a good spot.”

From late August through the end of the last road trip, the Red Sox continually wasted strong starting pitching performances and came dangerously close to playing themselves out of contention. In a 13-game stretch, they hit under .200 and averaged just over two runs per game.

But lately, the bats have come alive. On Saturday, they managed seven runs and did damage against one of the better starters in the league, Garrett Crochet.

Meanwhile, the starting pitching has settled into a nice groove over the last two weeks. Over the last 14 games, the rotation has pitched to a 2.40 ERA, allowing two runs or fewer in 12 of those games.

For a time Monday night, it seemed uncertain whether Bello was going to be part of a win. He found himself trailing 1-0 just three batters in and the Orioles hit four ropes against him in the top of the first. He needed consecutive strikeouts to strand the bases loaded.

But despite five walks, he settled down after the first and allowed just one more run the rest of the way.

Finally – hitting and pitching, together.

“A good collective effort, for sure,” said Tyler O’Neill, who homered twice and now has seven multi-homer games this season. “It’s all about momentum. Seems like the pitching’s been coming together, and a big game like this for the offense is good.”

Two questions remain. First, can they maintain this stretch where they’re getting solid starting pitching and enough offense to support the staff?

The schedule won’t make it easy, with six more games this week against the Orioles and Yankees. Then again, there have been times this season when the Red Sox have saved some of their best baseball for the toughest competition. They began an epic hot streak in June by rolling both the Philadelphia Phillies and the Yankees. The momentum those two series wins created helped carry the Sox right up to the All-Star break.

More recently, the team seemed to turn it on for a particularly demanding road trip. In August, as the team faltered, they split a four-game set in Baltimore, then continued on to Houston, where they took two of three.

It’s been done before. Now, of course, the margin for error is far thinner.

The second question: is there sufficient time?

The win Monday night moved the Red Sox back to within three games of Minnesota, which lost for the 15th time in 21 games. The Twins come to Fenway for what could be a critical three-game set in mid-September. That would represent the best chance for the Sox to overtake the Twins.

But there’s another problem. The Twins’ slippage has also enabled other challenges. The Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers are also three games behind Minnesota, and the Sox don’t have any more head-to-head meetings with either club.

In other words, no matter how poorly the Twins may continue to play, the Red Sox can’t control what happens to two other wild-card aspirants.

That’s where they’ve left themselves in the final three weeks of the season: with a crowded path to the postseason and the threat that some other team may overtake them in their efforts.

But more games like Monday, when the Red Sox proved conclusively that they can indeed walk and chew gum at the same time, would help the cause immensely.