OAKLAND -- Though taking plenty of heat outside the walls of Four Yawkey Way, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said he sees no erosion of support from the team’s owners as the club tries to weather a ragged start.

Cherington was here after spending the weekend scouting amateur players in advance of next month’s draft, and witnessed the team’s second straight win, an 11-inning, 5-4 decision against the Oakland Athletics, who have now lost six straight and are 1-11 in one-run games.

The Red Sox had not won back-to-back games in 20 days, and have done so only three times this season. They will be attempting to match their longest winning streak of the season when they meet the Athletics again tonight.

"Great," Cherington said when asked how he would characterize the support given him by the team’s ownership. "We talk a lot. They care about the results. I care about the results. We all care about the results. Always trying to find solutions to the issues we have, try to find ways to get better. [They’re] very supportive.

"Any form of leadership, there’s sort of a healthy balance between support and urgency. You want that combination."

Boston’s win Monday night drew the club to within two games of .500, at 15-17. The Red Sox are in virtual tie for last place with the Baltimore Orioles, both teams 5 1/2 games behind division-leading New York. The Yankees have won 8 of 11, a stretch that began with a three-game sweep of the Red Sox in Fenway Park.

"We know we have to start winning," Cherington said. "We’re confident we will."

Since last Thursday, Cherington has made a number of moves in an attempt to improve the team’s performance. On Thursday, pitching coach Juan Nieves was fired. On Friday, reliever Edward Mujica was designated for assignment and subsequently traded to Oakland for cash considerations. On Sunday, veteran outfielder Allen Craig and reliever Robbie Ross, both of whom came in trades made by Cherington, were optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket, and outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and pitcher Steven Wright were promoted.

On Monday, outfielder Shane Victorino, who had been on the disabled list since April 23, with a strained right hamstring, was activated and joined the club in Oakland, but no longer with the designation of everyday right-fielder. Manager John Farrell said Victorino will play against left-handers, as he did Monday night against Scott Kazmir and is scheduled to do so Tuesday night against Drew Pomeranz, but otherwise will share playing time with both Daniel Nava and Bradley.

To make room for Victorino on the roster, the Sox designated recently acquired infielder Luis Jimenez, with the hope that he clears waivers and the Sox will be able to outright him to Triple-A Pawtucket.

The Sox, who were batting .215 in their previous 10 games, had 11 hits in Monday’s victory, the first time they have reached double digits in hits since back-to-back games April 27 and 28 against Toronto. They also had three hits in 9 at-bats with runners in scoring position, after enduring a stretch of eight games in which they were 5 for 59 (.085).

"We haven’t clicked offensively," Cherington said before Monday’s game. "I think we will. We have too many good players here for the offense not to click. It’s a matter of when it will happen.

"There have already been a couple of chunks in the schedule where John hasn’t had a full complement of players, and one thing this team was built on was having deep lineups on any given night. So that’s one of the things we’re trying to get to, having a group of players that gives John an opportunity to have that. Hopefully, we’re getting closer to that.’’

Another future piece, outfielder Rusney Castillo, is moving closer to a return. Cherington said that Castillo, who was given the night off by Pawtucket, has sufficiently recovered from his shoulder injury that he can play every day with no restrictions. How difficult is it to keep such an expensive asset (Castillo is signed to a six-year, $72.5 million deal) in the minors?

“We’ve never looked at it like that,’’ Cherington said. “With Rusney, nothing has changed as far as how we see him. He’s right at the end of his re-entry program. We’ll let him be a normal player for awhile down there, get at-bats. He’s a talented player we believe in. He’ll have an opportunity in the big leagues. We don’t know when.’’

The brunt of the criticism Cherington has heard revolves around the team’s starting rotation, which begins play Tuesday night ranked 29th in the majors with a 5.63 ERA. The starters have a cumulative record of 9-13 after Rick Porcello’s no-decision Monday, one in which he allowed three runs on nine hits in five innings, after making back-to-back seven-inning starts.

Cherington was asked how he would respond to the assertion that he should have seen the rotation’s struggles coming, that he had miscalculated the importance of having an established top-of-the-rotation starter.

"We’re judged by the results," he said. "Our record isn’t what we want it to be. We’re [32] games in. We’ve got a lot of season to play good baseball and win more games. I’m confident we will.

"I don’t remember ever saying we don’t want good pitching or don’t need good pitching. We all know we need good pitching to win games, and the question is how to get it and how to create it. I believe we have a lot of solutions here already and we’ll try to continue to find any way to get better.

"We’re trying to create some stability around that group. We lost two catchers, one in spring training (Christian Vazquez), one early in the season (Ryan Hanigan). That’s a change that affects pitching. We’re trying to create some stability there, and we want to see this group have a chance to perform with some stability around it.

"Look, we’re always looking for ways to get better, and we will."