All season long, Jarren Duran has caught the ire of Boston Red Sox fans. His struggles have been noted since March. There was some thought that he was going to be traded at the MLB trade deadline last month. However, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow held on to him.
Quietly during the Red Sox turnaround this summer, Duran has had his moments where he has come up big. All of his offensive numbers don’t tell the whole story, and on Monday afternoon against the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park, he took a step toward achieving something not many people saw as possible earlier this season.
Boston Red Sox Outfielder Jarren Duran Closing in on 20/20 Season
After returning home following a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox kicked off a three-game series at home against the Angels. Boston ran their win streak to five games with a 5-2 victory. Duran had a two-run home run, his 20th of the season in the second inning. Duran, who also had a double in the game, has 18 stolen bases and is just two away from a 20/20 season. Interim manager Chad Tracy defended his left fielder after the win.
“Listen, not every year is going to go exactly how you want it to,” said Tracy, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. “You look up there and glance, and he’s got a good shot at 20/20. And with a good couple of weeks, getting to 80-plus RBIs. I know if you asked him, he’s hard on himself and it’s not what he’s wanted, but there’s still a lot of production there.”
Duran is slashing .204/.259/.365 this season with 69 runs driven in to go along with his 20 homers. He is 11 RBIs away from his second straight 80-plus RBI campaign. Given where things started, it would be quite the accomplishment.
Boston Red Sox Closing Gap on the New York Yankees
How well are things going for the Red Sox right now? Brayan Bello worked five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and scattering four hits. It was a spot start, and he collected his first win since April 12 against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was also aided by a two-run Adley Rutschman home run in the second inning.
“Obviously, when they told me yesterday, I was super happy, and my only thought was to have a good outing today and help my team win, and I’m glad it went my way today,” said Bello, per Browne. “At the beginning, I felt kind of weird, but I was able to find myself again, and I was able to get the rhythm back on quickly.”
Boston has two games remaining against the Angels. They will have two left-handers on the mound in Patrick Sandoval and Jake Bennett. The win over Los Angeles closed the gap on the New York Yankees to just two games in the race for the first American League wild-card spot. With that comes home-field advantage in the wild-card round in a couple of weeks.
If Boston is going to host the series, they’ll need to finish ahead of the Yankees. New York owns the tiebreaker, winning the season series last weekend.
Red Sox Interim Manager Chad Tracy Defends Jarren Duran After Angels Win