Jarren

Duran

Duran put Boston ahead early with a run-scoring single to center field with two outs in the third inning. It was his lone hit in four at-bats out of the leadoff spot. The 29-year-old outfielder is hitting just .138 (4-for-29) with one RBI and one steal in seven games since the start of June. Not great. The cold spell comes on the heels of a hot stretch where he went deep six times in 11 games.

Duran’s homer was his 10th of the year and the sixth in his past 11 games. He won’t stay quite this hot for long, as his recent streak has coincided with a mid-30s strikeout percentage and a BABIP north of .450. Still, it’s encouraging to see after an offseason of trade rumors and a slow start to 2026. Duran started and hit leadoff in every May game the Red Sox played, a role that suited him well in his career year back in 2024.

This was a tight game until the end. The Red Sox got one insurance run in the eighth to make it 3-1 and then broke the game open in the ninth, with Duran’s homer concluding the scoring. Duran is 16-for-46 with five homers and 13 RBI in his last 10 games, raising his OPS from .548 to .675.

Duran might be heating up with homers in two straight and multi-hit performances in three of his past four. He moved back to leadoff before Roman Anthony went on the IL and has remained in the top spot of the order in every May game. Duran seems unlikely to repeat the career year he put together in 2024, but his performance to date is below even the mildest of expectations coming into the year. Many of his key metrics are stable, but his strikeout rate is ticking up alongside a sweet-spot rate that has plummeted.

What a game from Duran, who really needed a big performance like this. The 29-year-old is still slashing just .189/.262/.331 on the season, but he does have five home runs and 10 steals. His three-run blast in the ninth inning gave the Red Sox a big cushion and allowed them to rest closer Aroldis Chapman. We’re going to need to see a few more games like this to say that Duran has truly turned things around, but he does at least seem like a good bet to replicate his 16 home runs and 24 steals from last season.

Duran’s contact quality has slipped this season, and he’s now hitting just .183/.243/.305 with a strikeout rate that has ticked up for the second straight season, now over 26.5 percent. He’s remained Boston’s primary leadoff hitter despite the struggles, having filled the role in 16 straight contests through Sunday.

It’ll be Jarren Duran in left field again on Wednesday night in Detroit. No surprise here since Anthony traveled back to Boston to undergo further evaluation earlier this week. The 21-year-old phenom has been diagnosed with a right wrist sprain and is day-to-day heading into Thursday’s series opener against the Rays at Fenway Park. All indications are that he will avoid a trip to the injured list, but that isn’t a surefire lock. There should be a more definitive update on his status at some point later this week.

Jarren Duran takes over in left field in this one. There’s a slight possibility Anthony could make it back to Detroit for Wednesday’s series finale, but fantasy managers shouldn’t count on it. The 21-year-old franchise cornerstone returned to Boston to undergo evaluation by a hand specialist after leaving Monday’s game with right wrist discomfort. Initial imaging didn’t reveal any fractures, which is an encouraging sign. He’s presumably day-to-day for now.

The home run was Duran’s fourth of the season. He hit a three-run home run off Ricky Vanasco in the seventh inning. Duran also recorded his sixth stolen base of the season. After a rough start to the year, he’s hit a home run in three of his last four games.

Duran also homered Friday, so he finishes the series against Houston having driven in four of the Red Sox’s seven runs. He had just one homer in 26 games entering the weekend.