BOSTON -- Not even a four-game series against a fellow World Series contender could raise the blood pressure of Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

Based on outward appearances Monday, Cora was as concerned about matching up with the Indians at Fenway Park as he would be the lowly Orioles or Royals. Perhaps that’s one of the keys to Boston’s record start, one that has the club 12 victories from the 100 mark with a third of August to go.

“It’s another series for us,” Cora said. “That’s why we are who we are. We don’t get caught up in what’s going on. One thing we talked about the first day of spring training – do not let the circumstances around us dictate who we are.

“We play the same way with teams who are 30 games over .500 or teams who are 30 games under .500. We show up and we want to win the series.”

Cleveland and the Red Sox owned the largest division leads in baseball entering Monday night’s opener, with the Indians outpacing the Twins by 12 games in the American League Central and Boston a comfortable 9½ games in front of the Yankees in the A.L. East.

Like Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez with the Red Sox, Cleveland boasts a pair of Most Valuable Player candidates in third baseman Jose Ramirez and shortstop Francisco Lindor. Indians’ right-hander Corey Kluber figures to be one of the prime contenders for the A.L. Cy Young Award alongside Boston left-hander Chris Sale.

“They have a great team,” Cora said. “We know that. But at the same time, we are who we are and how we feel about ourselves. We’ll go out there, see what happens this week, and then we’ll go to Tampa.”

The Red Sox play all seven games against Cleveland over the season’s final six weeks. Boston makes its lone visit to Progressive Field during its final road trip, beginning with a three-game series against New York from Sept. 18-20. The Indians follow Sept. 21-23, with the Red Sox enjoying 15 of their final 21 games at home.

No Sale:  Sale (left shoulder inflammation) was placed on the 10-day disabled list Saturday and has yet to resume throwing.

That’s fine with Cora and the Boston staff. They’ll place no timetable on their ace to return down the stretch, leaning on the division lead and even wider cushion for one of the two wild-card berths should disaster strike.

“We’re not going to push him,” Cora said. “We’re not shooting for Sunday or Friday or whatever. We’re shooting for whenever he’s ready.”

Sale’s lone start this month was a dominant one. He fanned 12 of the 16 hitters he faced in a 4-1 win at Baltimore on Aug. 12. He said Saturday the shoulder was crankier during his first stint on the disabled list, one that forced him to miss a four-game home series with the Yankees from Aug. 2-5. The Red Sox swept New York even without Sale’s services, opening their current wide lead.

“We’ll make sure he’s OK,” Cora said. “And this is not only for Chris. This is for the whole pitching staff. We want them to be trending up in September. I don’t want them to be trending down.”

Vazquez progresses:  Christian Vazquez (fractured right pinkie) is in his own race against the clock to return this season.

The catcher is back with Boston performing baseball activities. Vazquez caught a couple of bullpen sessions and hit soft toss on Monday. The Red Sox are hoping he can progress to hitting pitched balls in the cage by the end of the week.

“Obviously, the hitting part is going to be the tough part,” Cora said. “He already went through tee work. Now he’s progressing to soft toss. Hopefully at the end of the week he can hit off an arm, and we go from there.”

Vazquez last appeared in a game July 7 against Kansas City. He suffered the injury on a late slide while running the bases in a 15-4 victory. Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart have assumed the catching duties in place of Vazquez, with Boston going 29-3 in Leon’s last 32 appearances dating to July 2.

“He’s part of the scouting reports and all that,” Cora said of Vazquez. “But it has to be hard. Like everybody else, everybody that’s hurt, they want to contribute.”

Reach Bill Koch at bkoch@providencejournal.com.  On Twitter: @BillKoch25.