Joe Kelly escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the eighth inning and Hanley Ramirez knocked in the winning run in the top of the ninth as the Red Sox rallied for a 6-5 win over the Rangers.

By Bill Koch Providence Journal

 Resilience has been an early trademark of this particular Red Sox team, a trait that shone through once again on Saturday night at Globe Life Park.

 Trailing by three runs in the top of the sixth inning, Boston simply used the deficit as an opportunity to cobble together its 14th come-from-behind victory of the young season.

 Joe Kelly escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the eighth inning and Hanley Ramirez knocked in the winning run in the top of the ninth as the Red Sox rallied for a 6-5 win over the Rangers.

 Andrew Benintendi’s one-out triple to deep right center set the table for Ramirez, who lofted one to center to give Boston its first and only lead of the night. Craig Kimbrel notched his 300th career save by working a 1-2-3 ninth.

 Kelly was summoned with one out and a pair of hitters due to bat for the left side. His reverse splits to date – the right-hander entered holding lefties to a 2-for-23 performance at the plate – came into play yet again at the ideal time. Kelly blew away Joey Gallo with a high fastball and won an 11-pitch battle with the switch-hitting Jurickson Profar, freezing him with another fastball.

 Boston tied the game in the seventh without the aid of a hard-hit ball, as Mookie Betts drew a one-out walk and Benintendi flared a double into short left field. Profar chased it down from shortstop and held it about 225 feet from home plate, prompting Betts to make a dash for it and slide in safely to make it 5-4. J.D. Martinez followed by grounding the tying single to center field.

 Mitch Moreland’s two-run wall-scraper to right against Cole Hamels in the sixth was his first home run as an opponent at this park, cutting into what was a 4-1 deficit. The other 53 in his career came as a member of the Rangers, with Moreland debuting as a rookie in 2010 and playing his first seven seasons with Texas.

 Gallo was a major problem for the Red Sox to that point, with the left-handed slugger ending his 0-for-6 skid through the first two games of the series. He crushed a 466-foot solo homer out of sight to right field in the second and added another solo shot off the facing of the second deck in right in the sixth. Delino DeShields sandwiched in a three-run homer against Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who struck out 10 but gave up three costly hits among his four allowed.

 Hamels escaped what was largely a mess of his own making in the second, stranding the bases loaded. Xander Bogaerts lined a one-out double off the wall in left, Moreland walked and Eduardo Nunez reached when Hamels threw high to second base attempting to start an inning-ending double play. Hamels rebounded to strike out Rafael Devers and retired Christian Vazquez on a lazy fly to right.

 Boston mostly squandered another chance to do damage in the fifth. Vazquez drew a one-out walk and a two-base error by Renato Nunez on a Betts grounder to third put two men in scoring position. Benintendi flared an odd RBI single off the bag at second to tie the game at 1-1 but Ramirez killed the rally by bouncing into a 1-6-3 double play.