BOSTON — Boston seemed to be setting the stage for the Red Sox’s 11-game win streak to come to an end Saturday evening. Rain drenched Fenway Park for hours in the late afternoon, pushing the scheduled 4:10 p.m. ET first pitch back 61 minutes.

Humidity blanketed the ballpark and heavy air pollution from the Canadian wildfires obscured the city skyline as the Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays battled through a game that was equal parts slog and chaos. Boston got one of its messiest pitching performances in days from left-hander Patrick Sandoval, making just his second start for the club after a 748-day journey back from elbow surgery and various setbacks. They played one of their sloppier games in an otherwise elite defensive season, and struggled to overtake their guests, who were much more relentless offensively than in either half of Friday’s doubleheader.

But at the end of nine, the scoreboard read Red Sox 7, Rays 6.

The Red Sox never say die anymore. That’s why, for the first time since Opening Day, they have a winning record at 49-48. And for the first time since 2006, they’ve won 12 games in a row.

“It’s fun to play right now,” said right-fielder Wilyer Abreu, who twice gave the Red Sox the lead with a home run.

Sandoval managed to complete five innings despite an unrelenting Rays offense and uncharacteristically sloppy defense behind him. He allowed five runs, four earned, on nine hits, walked one and struck out five in his Fenway debut.

The Rays put the leadoff man on against Sandoval in three of the first four innings, and made him pay. First baseman Ryan Vilade’s leadoff double led to a 2-0 Rays lead in the second, and left-fielder Chandler Simpson’s leadoff double ultimately re-tied the game in the fourth.

An error by second baseman Anthony Seigler allowed Simpson to advance to second as Vilade scored the first run of the contest, and Simpson turned his leadoff double in the fourth into the tying run thanks to a stolen base and error by catcher Carlos Narváez.

The Red Sox answered back quickly early on, but were largely stifled by the Rays pitching staff.

Andruw Monasterio fouled off pitch after pitch from Rays starter Ian Seymour before being called out on pitch No. 10. Monasterio immediately tapped his batting helmet to challenge, and was right on the money. Instead of an inning-ending strikeout, he jogged to first base with a two-out walk.

This opened the door for Jahmai Jones, whom the Red Sox acquired from the Detroit Tigers earlier in the week, to make his first at-bat as a member of the starting nine a big one. Jones made his team debut as a pinch-hitter Friday night, then got the start in left-field Saturday. With the Red Sox trailing 2-0 and Monasterio on first base, Jones uncorked a 407-foot home run to the Green Monster to tie the game in the bottom of the second.

After homering twice in Friday night’s 5-3 victory, Abreu was back for more. He sent a 2-1 fastball from Seymour roaring 435 feet to dead-center to give Boston a 3-2 lead in the third.

The Red Sox only had to contend with Seymour for three innings and 61 pitches (39 for strikes). They charged him with three earned runs on two hits (both home runs), two walks,and four strikeouts.

Boston initially fared worse against the Tampa Bay bullpen. Kevin Kelly blanked them for two innings, working around one hit and striking out two, and Casey Legumina plunked Willson Contreras with one out in the sixth, but worked around it with two fast flyouts to right. And the Rays put the game further out of reach in the top of the seventh. As rain began to fall again, Jonny DeLuca put just enough mustard on Ryan Watson’s first pitch to send it into the front row of the Monster for a two-out solo homer and a 6-3 lead.

But against Cole Sulser in the bottom of the seventh, chaos reigned. Monasterio led off with his second double of the contest, and the Rays, by then out of challenges, could do nothing when Jarren Duran was ruled safe on first via a throwing error by Vilade.

Masataka Yoshida’s pinch-hit RBI groundout brought Monasterio home and Boston within two runs.

Ceddanne Rafaela’s team-leading 25th double caromed off the Monster just out of DeLuca’s reach to pull the Red Sox within one and force another Rays pitching change.

Then, who else, but Abreu? It looked like Garrett Cleavinger was going for an intentional walk when he opened the count with three balls. Abreu worked the count full, then sent Cleavinger’s sixth pitch, a four-seam fastball, arcing 412 feet to right-center.

For the first time since Mookie Betts on May 31 and June 1, 2016, a Red Sox player had back-to-back multi-homer games.

And the Red Sox had the lead.

Before rounding the bases, Abreu turned to the dugout and shouted to his teammates.

“I said in Spanish, ‘Tu eres loco,’” Abreu said with a smile. “Like, ‘Are you crazy?’ ”

Garrett Whitlock pitched a perfect top of the eighth, then turned the ball over to Boston’s All-Star closer.

Like everything else on Saturday, the top of the ninth wasn’t easy. Aroldis Chapman needed one pitch to retire Mesa and four to set down Fortes, but then he lost the zone completely. The crowd of 33,077, many of whom had sat drenched through the 61-minute rain delay, were on their feet and roaring in agony as Chapman walked Richie Palacios – pinch-runner Taylor Walls stole second – and Yandy Díaz.

The two Rays completed an easy steal, but their advancement was for naught. The crowd roared, in triumph this time, as DeLuca’s weak groundout brought Boston’s win total to an even dozen.

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