With no outs and runners on first and second with the Red Sox looking for some insurance runs in the seventh inning against the Yankees on Saturday, Brock Holt was just trying to do his job.

When he got into a hitter’s count, 2 and 0, against Yankees reliever Johnny Barbato, he thought about looking for a pitch he could put in play that would at the very least bring Hanley Ramirez in from third base.

He didn’t realize how much work he still had left.

The at-bat turned into a staredown that came a hair from ending in a three-run homer and didn’t end until Barbato had exhausted 13 pitches.

After Barbato fought back to run the count full, Holt fouled off four straight pitches.

On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Barbato left a fastball over the plate, and Holt ripped it toward the right-field foul pole.

From his view down the line, first base umpire Alan Porter ruled the ball foul.

Initially, Holt saw it differently.

“I thought it was a homer when I first hit it,’’ he said.

The umpires reviewed the play, which put Holt’s battle with Barbato on an awkward pause. Holt was either about to finish a delayed home run trot or get back to his battle with Barbato.

“Sitting through the review, I was just trying to stay focused on the at-bat,’’ Holt said.

Replays confirmed that Porter’s eyes weren’t lying, which meant Holt’s battle with Barbato was back on.

Barbato tried to get two fastballs by Holt, but Holt burned both of them.

He went to his fastball again, leaving it high on the outside of the plate, and Holt shot a line drive up the middle that second baseman Starlin Castro couldn’t glove cleanly, and Ramirez came around to score. The play was ruled an error.

“Obviously, I wish that would’ve stayed fair, but we got the job done,’’ Holt said.

When Holt got to first, he had a laugh with Porter.

“He said you need to petition for taller foul poles,’’ Holt said.

The at-bat was part of a four-run inning that tucked the Yankees in for the night and gave the Sox an 8-0 win.

Winning the battle was big for Holt, who came into the game hitting just .125 (2 for 16) in his past five games. Generally, Holt’s been a fast starter. In 2014, he hit .348 in the first month of the season. Last year, he hit .386.

He still hasn’t found his rhythm at the plate this year, but he said he feels comfortable.

“I feel good, I’m just not getting the results,’’ he said. “I feel good, I’m seeing the ball well. I’ve been working before the game during the day, just not getting the results. But everything feels good, so that’s a positive.’’

Holt’s .250 batting average doesn’t do justice to his approach at the plate this season.

He’s seeing a career-high 4.21 pitchers per plate appearance. His rate of swinging strikes is down from 9.5 percent last season to 7.4, the lowest it has been since he broke into the majors in 2012. He doesn’t chase after the first pitch as much as he has in the past, he puts balls in play, and he’s hit into only one double play all season.

The only explanation for his poor luck is his .269 batting average on balls in play. But he trusts the process, he said, and even if the results haven’t been there for him this season, the Sox have won six of their last seven games. They’re 15-5 when Holt’s started and winless in the five games he hasn’t.

“Right now, I’m not swinging it the way I’d like to be, so it’s just try to help out however you can,’’ Holt said. “If that’s on the defensive side or on the bases, do what you can to help the team win. We’re playing good baseball right now, so it’s a lot of fun.’’

Looking at a lineup that banged out 13 hits Saturday, Holt said that the offense’s strength is that it doesn’t need just one bat to carry it.

“That’s the thing with this lineup,’’ he said. “We’ve got a different guy every night, which is good. I feel like every night it could be someone different. We can score runs from the top of the order, obviously, all the way down to the bottom. The lineup’s clicking right now. We don’t need everyone to be hot at the same time. We’ve got enough depth and that’s the biggest thing.’’

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.