Red Sox
Sunday marked the Red Sox’ second inside-the-park home run this season.
The Red Sox were close to being swept by the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
Jarren Duran and his speed refused to let that happen.
In the bottom of the fifth inning with the game tied at one run apiece, Duran shot a line drive ball into right-center field which rolled into Fenway Park’s triangle. The ball ended up 420 feet away from home plate after the Pirates’ outfielders struggled to secure it.
An off-line throw to home by Pittsburgh allowed Duran to cross the plate standing up. The 28-year-old notched his first career inside-the-park home run to give Boston a 4-1 lead at the time. The Red Sox held on for a 5-2 victory, snapping a two-game skid and a five-game home loss streak.
Duran, often referred to as an “angry lizard” because of the way he runs, needed only 14.71 seconds to run from home to home.
Naturally, Duran let out a loud scream as the Fenway crowd roared following frustrating losses on Friday and Saturday.
Despite being known for his speed on the bases, Duran said the thought of scoring an inside-the-parker never crossed his mind on the play.
“I didn’t think it once,” Duran told NESN’s Jahmai Webster on the field after the game. “Not once. I saw Huddy (third base coach Kyle Hudson) was waving, but I know he was waving slow Breggy (Alex Bregman), so I didn’t know he was waving me, too. I got there and I was like, ‘I hope I have enough gas to get home.’”
Manager Alex Cora didn’t think Duran was on his way to Boston’s second inside-the-park home run this season, either (Wilyer Abreu vs. Reds on June 30). He told reporters postgame that he figured it was going to be a double.
Duran said he was gassed by the time he rounded third base. If the throw home were on line by the Pirates, there likely would have been a tag play.
“I was just happy I didn’t have to slide after all,” Duran said. “Narvy [Carlos Narvaez] was giving me the slide [signal], and I was like, ‘This is gonna be more of a fall than a slide.’ And then I saw the catcher vacate and I was like, ‘Thank you. I’m going standing up.’ I feel like we’ve been hitting the ball so hard at people and lining out, just not getting lucky. So I let out a bunch of energy, just seeing that we caught a break a little right there.”
Cora also acknowledged how much his club needed that spark-plug moment at the time.
“Yeah, we needed that. I think offensively, the last week has been a grind,” he said. “Some guys slumping, missing Wily[er Abreu]. Big swing there. The ball got in the corner and then he (Duran) did his thing.”
As the club has done frequently this year, they credited Red Sox fans for getting loud.
“The energy in the stadium changed. You could hear them after that. I think it gave us energy,” Cora said. “It’s hard to get energy when you’re not hitting. In this game, the energy comes from the offense.”
“This place is electric, and this place is magical. We’re doing good things and we’re just grateful to have the support of the fans,” Duran said.
The weekend series against Pittsburgh may have resulted in a series loss for Boston. But given Lucas Giolito’s quality start and Duran’s thrilling base-running midway through, Sunday gave Boston momentum entering September.
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