BOSTON — The last time the Yankees were at Fenway Park, a hobbled Gerrit Cole and the team were pounded during a season-ending loss in the 2021 AL wild-card game.

Cole was knocked around again on Thursday — especially by Rafael Devers — but the Yankees had enough offense to hold off the Red Sox, 6-5, to continue their assault on the AL East.

They now have a 15-game lead over Boston and 14 ¹/₂ -game lead over the second-place Rays, and are poised to run away with the division just over halfway through the regular season at an MLB-best 60-23.

“Any time we come up with a win here, it’s a good night,’’ Cole said.

It didn’t come easily, as Cole allowed two homers to Devers that kept Boston in the game.

But they weren’t enough to overcome Josh Donaldson’s grand slam in the third, which was followed by an Aaron Hicks blast and a fortunate RBI double from Jose Trevino in the fifth.

After the Yankees hit six homers in a 16-0 win over the Pirates, Donaldson went deep in the third inning on Thursday against Josh Winckowski.

Joey Gallo led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on a one-out single by Gleyber Torres. With two outs, Giancarlo Stanton walked to load the bases then Donaldson homered to center, his eighth of the season.

“That was a big situation for us to give us a little bit of a cushion,’’ Donaldson said.

More importantly, he’s now gone deep in back-to-back games, a sign he might be getting his home run swing back.

“It’s been a process,’’ Donaldson said.

Donaldson added he’s been using his legs more to get the ball in the air and avoid fouling off hittable pitches.

Hicks then hit one out to right-center to make it 5-0, the first time this season he has homered in consecutive games.

Cole, though, gave up a two-run shot to Devers in the bottom of the inning. It was Devers’ fifth homer off Cole in 24 plate appearances.

Hicks hit a two-out triple in the fifth and scored when first baseman Franchy Cordero misplayed Jose Trevino’s pop-up.

But Devers got Boston back in the game, continuing his success against Cole.

After Cole allowed a leadoff double by Cordero, he issued a one-out walk to Kevin Plawecki before Devers came up with two out.

Pitching coach Matt Blake discussed the situation with Blake and Trevino, to no avail. Devers followed with a shot out to center, a three-run blast that cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-5 and was Devers’ sixth homer against Cole — more than any other player.

“I’m open for suggestions,’’ Cole said of how he can alter his approach against Devers. “But the homer didn’t beat us. … We’ll just have to keep at it.”

While the Yankees’ lineup was shut down after the fifth, Cole left after six innings and was replaced by Wandy Peralta, who retired all four batters he faced.

Michael King came on and got the final two outs in the eighth before Clay Holmes retired the side in order in the ninth for the save, as the Yankees continue to roll through the AL East.

“We’re better in every way,’’ Aaron Boone said before the game of this year’s team compared to 2021. “Last year was a hard year for us. In a lot of ways, us winning 92 games was a pretty good feat for all the things we went through.”

Boone pointed to “all the little things we’ve really invested a lot into,” including baserunning and defense, as well as some changes in personnel.

And in their first trip to Boston of 2022, they kept up the pace.