ANAHEIM -- Mookie Betts hit two homers in Friday night’s series opener at Angel Stadium. They came more than five hours apart.

Betts opened the game with a home run and broke a tie in the 15th inning with a second solo shot to help the Red Sox take the series opener from the Angels, 7-6.

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“It felt like yesterday,” Betts said when asked how much time it seemed had passed since the first home run. “I guess it kind of was yesterday. I don’t even know how long that game was. Every win is important, so we have to pull ourselves together.”

Before extra innings even entered the equation, the first two games of the series were expected to be taxing on Boston’s relief corps. With a still-to-be-stretched-out Nathan Eovaldi starting on Friday and a bullpen day scheduled for Saturday, manager Alex Cora was going to need all hands on deck.

A blown two-run lead in the ninth inning, in which Brandon Workman walked the first two batters and J.D. Martinez committed an error in right field that allowed the tying run to score and force extras, further exacerbated that problem.

Cora defended his decision to keep Martinez in the outfield, rather than bringing in Jackie Bradley Jr. as a defensive substitution, citing the score.

“I wanna keep my best hitter in the lineup, up by two,” said Cora. “Up by three, yes. Up by two, no. Up by three, Jackie was coming in. Up by two, I’m keeping J.D. in the lineup.”

Still, the unraveling in the ninth caused the Red Sox to need seven relievers, who combined for 197 pitches, to get through 11 innings. The fewest pitches any of those relievers threw was 17 -- by Josh Taylor in two-thirds of an inning and Marcus Walden 1 1/3.

The efforts of Darwinzon Hernandez, who threw 42 pitches in his two scoreless innings, and Andrew Cashner, who closed things out by throwing 48 over four innings, were certainly appreciated by their teammates.

“That’s high leverage, no margin for error, facing the heart of the order,” Cora said of the rookie Hernandez, who struck out five. “He had a good fastball today, he threw a few sliders, he showed a lot of composure. He was relaxed, he didn’t get ahead of himself, and that was fun to watch.”

Cashner was impressive, too, continuing his trend of effectiveness since transitioning to a relief role on Aug. 13.

“Cash has been good for us in the bullpen,” said Cora. “Just gotta be patient. We trust in him. We trust a player when we traded for him that he was gonna contribute.”

But even with those performances, the bullpen situation for Saturday is troublesome. It’s one day ahead of the Sept. 1 roster expansion, when Cora said the Red Sox were likely to bring up a few pitchers. Could they wind up making a move to bring in a reinforcement for Saturday, too?

“I haven’t even talked to [president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski] after the game,” said Cora, with an exasperated laugh.

The win moved the Red Sox to 11 games over .500 at 73-62. The A’s won, so Boston remains 5 1/2 games back of the second American League Wild Card spot. The Rays also won to stay 4 1/2 games up on the Red Sox.

“It’s crunch time, so every little thing is magnified,” said Betts. “Glad we won it.”