“That was the loudest I’ve ever heard any sport environment that I’ve been to, or definitely been a part of,” Anthony told the Globe on Saturday. “When we played the Yankees and had a good series, I thought that was really loud, as expected. But last night was for sure topped everything I’ve heard.

“It was amazing. As a team, we feed off that. We feed off the fans. It shows — we were down the whole game — how many people stick around and wait till the very end and believe in us. That’s Boston. That’s the fan base here. We appreciate that. It’s unbelievable. It’s the most fun environment to play in for sure. That was a blast.”

In the seconds prior, Anthony, who had entered as a pinch hitter and drew a walk, had to be focused. He represented the tying run and had to mentally work through how to go to third on a single (or home on a double).

“I knew where we were in the lineup, but I’m so locked in, that I get up and then draw the walk and look home and see Rafaela is up,” Anthony said. “In my head I’m like, ‘OK, this game is over.’ Just because he’s fantastic and he lives for that moment. There’s nobody you’d rather have up in that moment than that guy and what he’s been doing lately.”

When Rafaela rendered any baserunning-related thoughts moot, Anthony reveled in the excitement. He consistently draws praise for his maturity and even-keel demeanor, even in the most emotional of moments, but this time let loose a little, “sprinting,” he said, around the bases to get to the others.

Rafaela had a different approach, walking halfway up the first-base line as he looked into the dugout.

“I got to home and I don’t think he had even touched first yet. It was unbelievable,” he said. “Once I for sure saw it leave, it was like, all right, I’m almost to third, I’m looking around at the fans and I’m like, wow, this is the most insane thing I’ve ever been a part of. It was amazing.”

And that was just July. And the ballpark — with a crowd of 35,452 — wasn’t even sold out. Imagine an eventful autumn.

“It’s motivating for sure,” he said.

Manager Alex Cora said, praising fans again Saturday after doing so Friday night: “It was loud. At one point, I thought it was Saturday, to be honest with you. Fridays are cool here, but it felt like a Saturday night game.”

Cora half-joked that the fans did the wave just once all night, which meant “they were into the game.” He has lamented in recent months that the Sox hadn’t given the Fenway faithful much to be amped about in recent years, causing the club to lose much of its home-field advantage.

So a return to this sort of atmosphere was welcomed.

“That’s all we want. It was on us to make it better here,” Cora said. “We’ve been average or below-average for a few years here, and now we’re giving them something they wanted. It’s a collaboration now. Hopefully they can show up and keep being loud and hopefully we can ride this all the way to the end.”

The other reason it was an interesting sequence for Anthony: He felt comfortable in earning a walk against the hard-throwing Fairbanks, whom he faced (and managed an RBI groundout against) in his debut on June 9.

A month later, stepping into the box — with the game on the line again — represented an interesting checkpoint.

“As a professional athlete, those moments can get the best of you, cause people to get too big or try to do too much,” Anthony said. “Definitely more settled in, more comfortable, slower heart rate the second time around.”

Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.