With the Red Sox, expect the unexpected. They barely eked out a series split against the lowly White Sox, when they should’ve swept or at least won the series. Then, they won series against the first-place Phillies and Yankees at Fenway. A series between Boston, the American League’s stolen base leader, and the Reds and Elly De La Cruz, who lead the Majors? Just one steal per team over the first two games of the weekend.
One thing everyone’s come to expect, however, is greatness from Jarren Duran. The Red Sox leadoff man has consistently proven himself every which way this season, bringing lightning speed on the bases, scorching extra-base hits, and jaw-dropping defense to a team that desperately needs it all.
Duran had his full arsenal on display Saturday, propelling the Red Sox to a stunning 4-3 comeback victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday evening. He went 2-for-4 with a strikeout and a gutsy run scoring effort. Over a now-12-game hitting streak, he’s batting .385 with a 1.054 OPS, seven extra-base hits, seven RBI, and five stolen bases. For good measure, he moved from left- to center-field late in the game, then proceeded to make a game-saving home-run robbery.
“Jarren Duran is an All-Star,” Rob Refsnyder raved to NESN’s Jahmai Webster. “Unbelievable ballplayer. When he goes, our team goes.”
Ultimately, it was Duran’s day from the start (he led off with a single). But for the first six innings, the game seemed to belong Frankie Montas. Even though he didn’t rack up strikeouts, the Reds starter – and former Red Sox pitching prospect – was able to stymie an offense that had arrived in town on a blazing hot streak. The Boston bats had looked hot early in Friday night’s series opener, too, when Duran and Connor Wong clobbered a pair of solo homers. But the Sox failed to score – and barely hit – after the third inning on Friday, and struggled to get going against Montas for most of Saturday.
It was home-run weather in Cincinnati on Saturday, too, but Montas kept Boston grounded. While Reds batters put the ball in the air frequently, their starter induced seven groundouts to zero flyouts. After Duran’s leadoff knock in the first, Montas didn’t allow another hit until Rafael Devers’ two-out single in the fourth.
Seven Red Sox players – Devers, Duran, Wong, Wilyer Abreu, Tyler O’Neill, Rob Refsnyder, and Triston Casas (injured list) – entered the day with OPS above .800 (min. 75 plate appearances), the most for any team in the Majors, but it was Dom Smith who finally broke up the Montas monotony with a big knock in the fifth. His third home run of the year put Boston on the board, and at 419 feet to center, would remain the farthest-hit ball of the game.
With one out in the sixth, Montas’ pitch count sat at a mere 59 and he’d held Boston to three hits. However, the third at-bat was a charm for Abreu, who was back in the lineup after missing 16 games with a right-ankle sprain; after grounding into a double play in the first and grounding out again in the fourth, the rookie lined a double to deep center. He quickly came around to score when Wong made it back-to-back doubles, bringing the Red Sox within one and extending his own hitting streak to 12 games.
Montas was able to get two outs to prevent further damage, and with his pitch count only at 72 after the sixth, it was a surprise when Sam Moll took the mound for the seventh, instead. Both teams would end up needing several bullpen arms – 12 pitchers took the mound overall – though Cincinnati’s starter lasted significantly longer. With Sunday scheduled to be a bullpen game and no day off before the Blue Jays and Red Sox meet at Fenway on Monday evening, Alex Cora was looking for a deep outing from Nick Pivetta. Instead, Saturday became a bullpen game, too. Due to a combination of long balls and too-long at-bats, Pivetta lasted just 4.1 innings. He allowed three earned runs on six hits, including a pair of homers by Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz, issued one walk, and struck out five. But unlike Montas, Pivetta induced airballs, a 3-5 groundout-to-flyout ratio.
“Today was a grind for Nick,” Cora confirmed.
Pivetta left a mess behind for Brennan Bernardino, but the ever-reliable southpaw managed to clean it up. The Reds may be MLB’s leaders in steals, but their running game is far from clean, and the Red Sox were able to capitalize on their mistakes. The bottom of the fifth ended with De La Cruz picked off and caught stealing third. When Nick Martini reached first on a dribbling bunt in the sixth, Wong was able to easily tag Jake Fraley out at home for the second out of the sixth.
Greg Weissert, Cam Booser, Zack Kelly, and Chris Martin followed Bernardino, and held down a feisty Reds lineup to keep Boston in the game. Kelly extended his no-hit streak to 31 batters; over nine innings in June, opponents are 0-for-27 against him.
Before Saturday, the Red Sox were 2-31 when trailing after seven innings. But in the eighth, they finally met a Reds pitcher they could hit. Ceddanne Rafaela and Duran greeted Justin Wilson with back-to-back singles. Two of the fastest runners in Majors stood on the corners, and Refsnyder had no intention of wasting the opportunity. Pinch-hitting for Abreu, the veteran utilityman tied the game with the third consecutive single.
The Reds made another pitching change, but with Devers on deck and Duran on third, the outcome seemed inevitable. As Devers whacked a shallow flyout, Duran raced home and dove headfirst into Boston’s first lead of the series.
“Not many people would even think about running that third base with how shallow that (flyout) was,” Refsnyder said. “Jarren’s just doing it all: offense, defense, base-running. He’s having a really special first half, and I hope he gets rewarded with an All-Star Game.”
The Red Sox were able to protect, but not increase their lead before Kenley Jansen took the mound for the bottom of the ninth. And when Stuart Fairchild came up to bat with one out and blasted a ball 408 feet to center, the game should’ve been tied.
Instead, Duran leapt up and – in defiance of the blinding early-evening sunlight – snatched the home run, and the game, back for the Red Sox. Jansen then worked around a two-out single and got De La Cruz to fly out for the win. His 434th career save moves him ahead of ex-Sox closer Craig Kimbrel for sole possession of fifth all-time.
But ask anyone who saved this game, and they’ll answer: Jarren Duran.
