Jarren

Duran

Duran will get a breather with left-hander Matt Wilkinson toeing the slab for the Giants. Eli White will take his place in left field and will bat eighth for the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.

Abreu receives some extra time off to recover after being hit by a pitch above his shin guard during Friday’s game. It was a bit surprising to see him on the initial lineup card in the first place with rookie left-hander Gage Jump taking the ball for the Athletics. The 27-year-old has put together a phenomenal season, slashing .256/.331/.462 with 20 homers, 62 RBI and seven steals in 429 plate appearances over 113 games. It’ll be Eli White moving over to right field with Jarren Duran getting into the lineup in the opposite corner. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

Duran was extremely disappointed that he didn’t instead go 0-for-3 with a sac fly and made his displeasure known to Willson Contreras, who did not tag up from third on Duran’s 245-foot fly to left in the sixth. Contreras, though, most likely would been out had he tried to run on Tyler Soderstrom’s arm and pretty clearly made the right decision. Regardless, Duran’s gestures on his way off the field and in the dugout afterwards were completely uncalled for. Even though they’d be selling low in a big way, one wonders if the Red Sox still might choose to subtract Duran before the trade deadline.

Duran takes a seat with lefty Jacob Lopez drawing the starting assignment in this one. It’ll be Jahmai Jones taking over in left field. He’ll continue sitting against the occasional southpaw, but Roman Anthony’s ongoing absence means he’ll continue playing pretty much everyday in Boston.

Duran connected for a two-run single in the fourth that put Boston up 3-0. They went on to win for the 22nd time in 26 games, though Duran has been quiet for most of the stretch. Alongside Ezequiel Tovar, Duran ranks as one of the two worst hitters in MLB since June 1. He’s hitting in the bottom third of the lineup as a result and remains a disappointing bat for fantasy purposes in 2026.

The Red Sox have matched their franchise-long win streak from 1946. Duran’s first-inning triple helped give them an early 4-0 lead in this one and they simply held on from there. Duran is just 7-for-44 this month, but 15 of his 36 balls in play have been hit hard. It still seems like he has to get hot at some point. His exit velocity numbers are down some from the last couple of years, but not enough to justify his .238 BABIP. His career mark was .340 previously.

Jones will make his Red Sox debut, weather permitting, against Tampa Bay lefty Ian Seymour after being acquired from the Tigers in a trade earlier this week. The 28-year-old has had success in a lefty-mashing platoon role in previous years, so Boston’s front office is rolling the dice that a change of scenery does the trick. It’ll be Jarren Duran on the bench to open this one as the Red Sox try for their 12th consecutive victory.

It’s a bit of a surprise given how good Duran has been of late — he even inched his batting average above .200 briefly on Tuesday — but the Red Sox are going full bench lineup today against LHP Anthony Kay. Nate Eaton is in left field.

The homer was his 13th, so power production hasn’t really been his issue. However, Duran came into this one hitless in his previous four games. It was his first multihit game since June 16 and his first time reaching base safely three times in a game since May 30. His OBP is sitting at .259, compared to .346, .342 and .332 the previous three years.

This is the third straight game against a left-hander that Duran has sat out. The 29-year-old is hitting .216/.284/.297 in 81 plate appearances against lefties this season with a 27.2 percent strikeout rate. Nate Eaton will start in left field and bat seventh while Romy Gonzalez will be the designated hitter and bat fifth.