Jarren

Duran

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.

The Red Sox blew a masterful performance from Sonny Gray by giving up two runs in the ninth and then gave up two more on Wilyer Abreu’s second mistake in two innings in the 10th. However, the offense came through against Fernando Cruz in the bottom of the 10th. Anthony Siegler singled even after taking an automatic strike at the beginning of his at-bat, and pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida followed with a double that gave him just his second RBI of the month. Tseng-Che Cheng then tied the game with a sac fly, and Duran followed with a liner to right with no one home, as the Yankees had gone to a two-man outfield. It was Duran’s second at-bat off the bench, as he didn’t start against lefty Carlos Rodón. He’s hitting just .156/.181/.244 with 33 strikeouts this month.

It makes sense after Eaton went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, and two RBI in a win on Tuesday. The Red Sox will use that to give Jarren Duran a day off and put Connor Wong at designated hitter. While Duran has 12 home runs and 11 steals in 72 games this season, he’s also slashing just .199/.258/.366 and has just a 67 wRC+.

That was Duran’s 12th home run and 37th RBI of the season in what has been a rough year for the 29-year-old. Duran is hitting just .214/.270/.398 on the season and has gone 10-for-51 (1.96) with a 19/0 K/BB ratio since June 1st. The 12 home runs and 11 steals make it tough to drop him in most fantasy leagues, but he’s not somebody you need to hold onto in really shallow formats.