BOSTON — Earlier in his career, Ceddanne Rafaela probably would have struck out on three pitches.

Facing Texas Rangers left-hander Robby Ahlstrom with the game tied and the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Rafaela took a called strike and then couldn’t check his swing to fall behind 0-2. The next pitch was a high fastball, the sort of pitch Rafaela might have chased as a rookie, but this time he was able to hold up and let it go for a ball.

Still alive, Rafaela fouled off the fourth pitch of the at bat before getting a good rip on the fifth, sending Ahlstrom’s curveball into left field for the go-ahead two-run single to help deliver the Boston Red Sox a 6-3 win.

“I think he swung at two balls well out of the zone up and then just calmed himself down and got a strike and put it in play,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “Give (Andruw) Monasterio a lot of credit prior it, worked a very good at bat to walk and push it to Rafaela and, you know, a bases loaded spot where they’ve got to get it over the plate, but a clutch at bat.”

While Jacob deGrom is now 37 years old and recently missed most of two seasons due to Tommy John surgery, the two-time Cy Young Award winner remains one of the hardest throwers in baseball. DeGrom came into Saturday with 84 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings along with a 3.18 ERA, and though he isn’t hitting triple digits like in his prime, he can still comfortably average 97-98 mph.

He had no trouble dealing with the Red Sox through the first two innings, facing the minimum six batters to start the game.

Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez sent down the first eight batters he faced before running into trouble with two outs in the third. Rangers shortstop Nicky Lopez reached on a single and then scored from first on a softly hit single up the middle by Wyatt Langford, which was aided by Rafaela making a poor throw in to second for an error.

But the Red Sox answered right back in the bottom of the third.

Boston’s bats came alive and tagged deGrom for four singles in the inning, starting with back-to-back knocks by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Marcelo Mayer. Mickey Gasper added another to score Kiner-Falefa and tie the game, and with two outs Wilyer Abreu delivered an RBI single of his own to make it 2-1 Red Sox.

Suarez continued to play with fire for the remainder of his outing.

The Red Sox left-hander allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases with nobody out to start the fourth, and after recording a strikeout allowed a sacrifice fly to Michael Helman to tie the game at 2-2. But Suarez drew a groundout to end the threat, limiting what could have been a big Texas rally to just one run.

Texas had another great opportunity after getting two straight singles to lead off the fifth, but Suarez drew a grounder that led to Lopez being caught in a rundown and tagged out at home plate. He then walked Josh Jung to load the bases with one out but struck out Ezequiel Duran and Jake Burger looking to end his outing.

Burger’s punch out was particularly dramatic, coming with a full count and prompting an emphatic challenge that was immediately confirmed by ABS.

Suarez finished his day with two runs allowed over five innings, with six hits, two walks and seven strikeouts on 97 pitches. Following the game Tracy said Suarez keeping the Rangers at bay in the fourth and fifth was a huge reason why they won.

“Bases loaded in the fourth, bases loaded in the fifth and got out of there with virtually no damage,” Tracy said. “Either of those innings could have swung the other direction and turned that game not in our favor, and he battled through that and kept them at two runs.”

Meanwhile, deGrom retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced, including nine straight from the third into the sixth inning. He allowed two runs on six innings with six hits, five strikeouts and no walks, handing things over to the bullpen with the game still tied 2-2.

The Red Sox finally got going again in the seventh.

The inning started quietly with Caleb Durbin striking out, Kiner-Falefa singling and Mayer striking out, but with two outs Carlos Narvaez hit a soft grounder down the third base line that stayed fair and tapped off the third base bag for an infield single.

Monasterio, a pinch runner, then drew a walk to load the bases, setting the table for Rafaela’s big two-run single to give the Red Sox a 4-2 lead.

Rather than stick with their usual bullpen sequence of Justin Slaten in the seventh and Garrett Whitlock in the eighth, Tracy opted to go to Slaten and Whitlock in the sixth and seventh instead, giving the ball to right-hander Tyron Guerrero for the eighth. Slaten and Whitlock each pitched scoreless frames, but Guerrero allowed a solo home run to Burger to make it 4-3 before giving up a single and a hit batsman.

At that point Tracy gave Guerrero the hook and brought in left-hander Danny Coulombe with two on and one out to try and preserve the one-run lead, and he drew a flyout and a groundout to keep the Red Sox in front.

From there it was smooth sailing for the home team. Willson Contreras led off the bottom of the eighth with a double, Jarren Duran brought him home with a two-run home run, his 11th homer of the season, and Aroldis Chapman finished things off in the ninth for his 14th save of the season.

It was just the third time Chapman has appeared in a game for the Red Sox since May 21, but the save moved him to 381 for his career, nine behind former Red Sox great Dennis Eckersley for ninth on the all-time list.

Chapman also now has 1,359 career strikeouts as a reliever, putting him just four shy of Hoyt Wilhelm (1,363) for the all-time lead in that category.

The Red Sox (29-39) have now won two straight to start the homestand and have clinched just their second series victory at Fenway Park this season. Boston will go for the sweep on Sunday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET.

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