Jarren

Duran

Contreras is at first base and hitting third as Boston kicks off postseason play after missing eight of their final nine regular-season contests with a right hand injury. Here’s the full lineup set to battle Yankees ace Cam Schlittler: Roman Anthony (DH), Adley Rutschman (C), Contreras (1B), Wilyer Abreu (RF), Ceddanne Rafaela (CF), Nick Sogard (2B), Jarren Duran (LF), Trevor Story (SS) and Caleb Durbin (3B).

Only in this game because Ceddanne Rafaela had to leave early with hamstring tightness, Duran was the spark plug that the Red Sox needed. He helped break a 0-0 tie with a lead-off single in the sixth, advanced to second on a groundout, then came around to score on a single by Andruw Monasterio. That lone run held up as the only scored in this game and Duran stole a base later on as well to give him 20 on the season. That plus his 20 home runs, .207 batting average, and .629 OPS give Duran one of the most disappointing 20-20 seasons of all time.

Rutschman takes a seat, along with Mickey Gasper and Jarren Duran with the Red Sox rolling out a righty-heavy lineup against Angels southpaw Reid Detmers. It’ll be lefty-mashers Jahmai Jones and Andruw Monasterio getting into the lineup with Connor Wong behind the plate. The 28-year-old backstop has been playing through a lingering elbow issue since early September, but it hasn’t forced him to miss too much time.

After a solid month of August, Duran has started September going 4-for-27 (.148) with a 32 percent strikeout rate. Despite the fact that he’s hitting better against lefties this season, Duran will take a seat with Roman Anthony starting in left field and Jahmai Jones starting at designated hitter and batting second.

Homers haven’t been the issue for Duran this year; he has four more than he did last year and only one fewer than in his remarkable 2024 campaign. However, he’s totaled just 19 doubles and triples, compared to 54 last year and 62 in 2024. At .204/.259/.365 for the season, he’s probably going to need to do something special in October for the Red Sox to want him back next year. The question is whether he’ll have any real trade value at his approximately $10 million arbitration price.

Duran had a nice first three weeks of August, but he is 2-for-24 in his last seven games, dropping his average back down to .204. His strikeout rate is currently 27.7 percent, up from 24.3 percent last year and 21.8 percent in his career year of 2024.

Duran put Boston ahead for good in a back-and-forth marathon in Miami with a 418-foot grand slam to right-center field off lefty reliever Cade Gibson in the 11th inning. It was his 18th round-tripper of the season.

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.