BOSTON — Jarren Duran jumped on the first pitch he saw with two outs. His hit fell in right the gap for what should’ve been a double. Then, the fans stood and the Sox dugout joined them when it rolled hard enough to slide by both Pirates outfielders into the triangle. Duran turned the corner, saw a green light from third base coach Kyle Hudson and initially received a signal to slide from Carlos Narváez, who scored in front of him. When he saw the throw going wide, he stood and screamed.
“I knew (Alex Bregman) was in front of me, so I thought I was going to hold up at three,” Duran joked in the clubhouse. “I said, ‘oh crap, I’m gonna have to go here.’ I was running out of gas, but I’m just happy it worked out … they’re so rare. When you see one, it’s almost like an oh crap moment, like, this is gonna happen, this is gonna happen.”
The Sox started the night 3-18, 0-5 with runners in scoring position and averaged only 3.1 runs per game over the previous week. At risk of suffering a sweep to the 61-76 Pirates, Duran plated three runs and gave the Sox a 4-1 edge in the fifth inning. They went on to win, 5-2, and hoped they put the recent offensive lull behind them.
Duran finished with a double, the home run and two walks, Alex Bregman broke an 0-17 skid and Nathaniel Lowe returned from paternity leave with a pair of hits. Ceddanne Rafaela scored Lowe with an infield single in the sixth, stretching the lead to 5-1 after Narváez doubled in front of Duran the previous inning. Still, Bregman left the bases loaded to end the inning and Boston finished 2-9 with RISP. An Alexander Canario solo shot to lead off the next inning at least created some doubt, and a save situation Aroldis Chapman made easy work off once Garrett Whitlock escaped a bases loaded jam in the eighth.
“The energy in the stadium changed (after the Duran home run),” Alex Cora said. “You could see them, hear them after that. It gave us energy … it’s hard to get energy when you’re not hitting. It’s not that we’re flat, or whatever. In this game, the energy comes from the offense and throughout the series, they did an outstanding job against us. We put some good at-bats … we ran the bases extremely well. Nate, first to third, that was huge, then the ground ball to short, he took off, he was safe. We did some good things, and hopefully we can get going against Cleveland.”
The Pirates found an early opportunity to knock Lucas Giolito out of the game after he retired the first seven hitters he faced. He walked three batters in a row with one out after yielding a leadoff double in the fourth inning. The lead runner Spencer Horwitz tried to steal third base too early and ran into an out, limiting the damage when Giolito threw a pitch away and allowed Nick Gonzales to score and secure a 1-0 lead.
Giolito bounced back with a 2-2 slider against Henry Davis that stranded runners at second and third. The Sox stranded two runners in scoring position for three straight at-bats in the bottom half before Duran’s long run an inning later. The sprint around all four bags took 14 seconds and reinvigorated Giolito as he watched from the batters cage and reworked his command with Boston’s coaches to make it through six innings allowing one run. The Sox have won 10 of his last 12 starts.
“It really fired me up,” Giolito said. “I told myself after that, it’s go time now. They don’t get anything else.”
- Wilyer Abreu (calf) did not come off the injured list this weekend after trainers told him to slow his recovery process. He’s hit and done fielding drills 13 days removed from his ailment, but Cora said before Sunday’s game that it’s taking longer than expected for him to return, though he’s still expected to. Abreu will be evaluated again on Monday. He did not aggravate the injury, Abreu said: “He hasn’t been able to run. Are we concerned? Yes and no. He’ll be back at one point, but I think it’s been longer than expected.”
- The Red Sox signed Chapman to a two-year extension worth $13.3 million in 2026 with a vesting option for 2027 should he reach 40 innings and finish the first season healthy, Chris Cotillo reported. The second year becomes a mutual option if not. The Sox officially announced the deal late on Sunday after he recorded his 27th save with two strikeouts: “The guy has been great for us, not only on the field … but as you guys see, in the clubhouse. The way he prepares. He’s been great,” Cora said.
- “(Continuity) is something we needed,” Cora said later. “It’s been a revolving door since (2021). If you look around, (Whitlock) and Tanner (Houck) are the only ones left from ’21. Ramon (Vasquez) and the clubbies, and the trainers, but as far as players, it’s been a revolving door. It’s hard to create a culture when you have so many moving parts and guys that come here, impact and then leave. To have familiar faces when you go to Ft. Myers, it means a lot. Obviously, we’re in the middle of a youth movement that we know those guys are gonna be here for a long period of time, but to surround them with guys who have been there, done that is very important.”
- Masataka Yoshida and Trevor Story combined to hit 0-8 on Sunday. Yoshida recorded hits in the first two games of the series and Cora saw improvement from him, seeing the ball better and staying in pitches going the other way. He entered Sunday hitting .227 in August. Story fell to 5-29 (.172) over the last eight games. Abreu could break into Yoshida’s time at DH when he returns, while Anthony has also spent time at DH.
- Bryan Bello and Garrett Crochet will open the Guardians series on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, before Payton Tolle will likely see his next start pushed back to Thursday. That could open the door for Kyle Harrison to make his Red Sox debut after he was scratched from his start with Worcester on Sunday. Harrison posted a 3.83 ERA in 11 starts and 49.1 innings with AAA-Worcester since joining the Sox in the Rafael Devers trade.
- The Phillies signed RHP Walker Buehler on Sunday, who Boston released last week.
- Boston pulled back within 0.5 games of the Yankees for the top wild card spot and stayed 2.5 games ahead of Seattle in the third spot and 5.0 games up on Texas outside of the playoff picture. The Sox are 3.5 games back in the division with 24 games remaining.
