Boston Red Sox have made a notable change to their lineup for Saturday's meeting with the Kansas City Royals, with Jarren Duran moving up the batting order as Boston looks to respond to three consecutive defeats.
Duran will remain in centre field for the second straight game, but interim manager Chad Tracy has opted to give the outfielder a different spot in the order for the latest Royals clash at Fenway Park.
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
Duran will bat seventh against the Royals after hitting eighth in Friday night's series opener, which Boston lost 3-2.
The Red Sox have also kept Duran in centre field, with Ceddanne Rafaela and Eli White both on the injured list. Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu will join him in the outfield for Saturday's contest.

#duran #boston #jarren

The Yankees were one of a handful of teams that didn't play on Labor Day, but not many top American League contenders were in action. The Rays, White Sox, Astros, and Rangers all joined the Yanks in taking a breather on the offday. At least Aaron Judge is officially back! So call that a notable exception to the absence of action.
Here's what the teams that were active were up to on Labor Day.
I hope no one actually had any real expectations of the hapless Angels going into Fenway and doing much of anything. Brayan Bello needed 103 pitches to get through five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks, but again, these are the Angels. They didn't do much with their opportunities, and they were put in a 5-0 hole in a hurry anyway.
Erstwhile Orioles prospect Grayson Rodriguez was terrible, inflating his season ERA to 6.28 in 17 starts when both Jarren Duran and Adley Rutschman homered off him in the second. His old batterymate's dinger high off the Pesky Pole was a three-run blast and proved to be a crushing blow.
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#Angels #yankees

Trevor Story's Blunt Message Helps Jarren Duran End Negative Spiral originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Jarren Duran changed his appearance before changing the direction of his September. The Boston Red Sox outfielder cut his signature long hair during the team's weekend series in Baltimore, dyed it blond and then delivered one of his best offensive performances in months.
Duran went 2-for-4 with a home run and a double in Boston's 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday at Fenway Park. His solo shot was his 20th home run of the season and helped the Red Sox extend their winning streak to five games.
The new look created plenty of attention. A direct message from Trevor Story might have been considerably more important.
Duran has openly acknowledged his frustration throughout a season that has not always matched his expectations. Story, whose locker has been located next to Duran's for years, eventually decided his teammate needed to hear a difficult truth.

#nesn

BOSTON (AP) — Trevor Story drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the 10th inning after Seattle walked the two batters before him intentionally, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 9-8 comeback victory over the Mariners on Monday night.
Jarren Duran hit a two-run homer and Mickey Gasper a solo shot for the Red Sox, who were coming off a rough weekend when they dropped three of four to the Yankees.
Randy Arozarena had four hits, including a homer over the Green Monster, drove in four runs and scored three times for the Mariners, who have lost five straight. Cal Raleigh also got his 20th homer of the season.
Aroldis Chapman (3-4) worked a scoreless 10th.
Nick Sogard sacrificed, then the Mariners walked the next two batters, before Story lined a 3-2 pitch from Cooper Criswell (2-2) into the left-center gap.

#four #boston

Tonight's game at Fenway Park was capital-B Baseball. Yesterday the Red Sox lost 16-1 to the Yankees in ways that were humiliating in line wit what losing to the Yankees naturally implies, especially around Labor Day. Just over a day later, they won as good a regular season game as you'll ever seen. It was a 9-8 extra innings walk-off after several comebacks against the Mariners generally but specifically Randy Arozarena, who had a Randy Arozarena Game, and overtook all of Boston's leads but the last one. The last one came on a Trevor Story single in the bottom of the 10th to end it. Before that, they played the hits: Mickey Gasper went deep again, because of course. Jarren Duran did too, because why not? Payton Tolle hugged a dude!
And yet all these feats were repeatedly and rudely refuted by the M's, not just Randy but Cal Raleigh, whose sleeves are too short and seemed to have put it out of reach at 8-5 in the 7th:
But no. The Sox would and could not be denied. Story didn't just have the hit to end it, he had the critical slap in the 8th to bring it within a run. After Aroldis did his thing in the top of the ninth (scare the ******* out of us while being objectively impressive but [redacted]) Roman Anthony came out and hit a leadoff triple and scored on a sac to left to tie it. Once the Sox dispatched the top of the 10th and came back up, they moved the fake runner to 3d and the M's walked 'em loaded and went to a 3-1 count before this happened:
"Nine-eight in 10." That's great stuff, Obie. I can't lie.

#went

Jarren Duran has struggled offensively this season and is far from the player he was in 2024 when he was an All-Star.
Duran led the league in doubles and triples in 2024. His numbers declined in 2025, but he still had a .774 OPS and had 70 extra-base hits. This year, he is hitting .209 with a .632 OPS, but this month has been much better.
He has played in 21 games this month, starting all but one of those games. He had a day off on Aug. 17, but is slashing .267/.321/.507 with nine extra-base hits. He has a .828 OPS, six RBIs, five walks and four homers. His batting average last month was .210.
With Roman Anthony returning soon, Duran is at risk of losing playing time. However, Masataka Yoshida's injury opens the designated hitter spot up for Duran to get at-bats. Mickey Gasper has filled in nicely, but as players return, Gasper is a candidate to lose his spot. If the Red Sox think Duran can continue to do what he's done in August, they could go back to using the designated hitter spot to get all four of Anthony, Duran, Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela in the lineup.
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#duran

The Boston Red Sox (72-59) and the Miami Marlins (67-65) continue their respective postseason pushes tonight when they take the field at loanDepot Park in Miami. The Red Sox won the series opener last night, 4-2, to stay within six games of first place Tampa Bay in the AL East and further strengthen their hold on the second Wild Card spot in the American League. Miami is third in the NL East at 67-65 but they remain 9.5 games behind the Braves in the division race and four back of the final Wild Card spot in the National League.
Last night's game remained tight throughout primarily because Boston managed just a single hit in 14 at bats with runners in scoring position. Miami struck first in the second inning when Otto Lopez drove home Jakob Marsee with a sacrifice fly, giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Boston answered in the fifth when Jarren Duran doubled and later scored on Mickey Gasper's RBI double to tie the game. The Marlins regained the lead in the seventh on Xavier Edwards' RBI single, but once again, Boston answered. Wilyer Abreu doubled in the eighth and eventually scored on a wild pitch, knotting the game at 2-2. The game was decided in the ninth. Anthony Seigler, who entered the game with only 12 RBIs on the season, delivered the biggest hit of the night, lining a go-ahead RBI triple to right field. Nick Sogard followed with an RBI single to provide an insurance run and give Boston a 4-2 advantage. Aroldis Chapman closed the door for his 30th save of the campaign. The Sox have now won four in a row.
Rookie Payton Tolle (8-6, 3.08 ERA) gets the ball today for the Sox. The southpaw takes the mound after six days of rest. In four August starts, Tolle has allowed six earned runs (25 innings pitched). Boston lost against the Diamondbacks in his last start (5 IP, 3ER) after wining in his seven previous starts. Tyler Phillips (3-6, 3.67 ERA) will be on the ******* p for Miami. The righthander gave up one run in two innings in Philadelphia last Tuesday after giving up four in 5.1 innings in his previous outing. The Marlins have lost his last three starts.
Lets dive further into today's game and find a sweat or two.
We've got all the info and ******* ysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.

#boston #last

Red Sox Spoil Rafael Devers' Fenway Return With Statement Win originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Rafael Devers delivered the dramatic moment everyone expected Friday night. The Boston Red Sox still walked away with the result that mattered. Boston spoiled Devers' first game back at Fenway Park since the blockbuster trade, defeating the San Francisco Giants 6-4 in the opener of a three-game series.
Devers launched a 412-foot home run in the fourth inning, but Willson Contreras answered the former Red Sox star with an even bigger blast. Contreras' three-run homer highlighted a five-run third inning, while Wilyer Abreu provided an important insurance run later in the night. The victory improved Boston to 69-59 and helped the club rebound from Wednesday's extra-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
San Francisco struck first when Bryce Eldridge delivered an RBI single against Sonny Gray in the third inning. That lead did not last long.
Nick Sogard singled and Abreu drew a walk before Contreras crushed a three-run homer off Giants ace Logan Webb. The ball traveled 450 feet and completely left Fenway Park, giving Boston a 3-1 advantage. The Red Sox continued applying pressure with two outs. Adley Rutschman and Caleb Durbin singled before Jarren Duran loaded the bases with another hit.

#inning #nesn #park

I've talked before about the idea of a "stopper" as a pitcher in a starting rotation who can halt a losing streak by at least giving their team a chance to win. In my mind, it's a separate idea from a starting pitching ace who might be expected to have a wholly different level of pitching production. If there was ever a team in desperate need of a "stopper" performance, it would be the Diamondbacks at this point in the season. Even after a series win in Atlanta over the weekend, they have come into Boston and gotten knocked around on both sides of the ball by allowing a combined 20 runs in the first two games and scoring just five in response. We've seen over the past two years how important each win can be – especially in a National League Wild Card that is incredibly tight and also has seen the D-Backs drop back in – so avoiding a sweep was absolutely necessary. And that's to say nothing of the cloud of uncertainty hanging over Ketel Marte's status for the remainder of the season. This afternoon certainly wasn't pretty, but the team did manage to accomplish the mission.
While Brandon Pfaadt may not necessarily pop off the page as a "stopper," he has been one of the reasons for the team's surge over the past month or so. He's pitched to an absurd 1.22 ERA (2.56 FIP) over his last seven starts going back to July 10th – which coincides nearly exactly with the last time the team was .500 or worse. One of the keys to that success: Pfaadt hadn't allowed a home run since his first start back from Reno, a stretch of 49.1 IP. So naturally, he allowed three home runs on the day – a pair of solo shots and a three-run shot that ended his start. The first of those solo shots from Nick Sogard in fact came on the very first pitch of the game – a 93 MPH center-center fastball that Sogard launched for his very first career homer. He nearly repeated the feat when Jarren Duran launched the first pitch he saw of the third inning into the stands, but this one was an elevated fastball instead of center cut. And finally, Pfaadt was victimized by the seemingly unstoppable Mickey Gaspar who homered for the third straight game, although this roundtripper was a three-run instead of a solo shot that tied the game and ended Pfaadt's night.
Even as Pfaadt was being pecked to death by solo home runs, the Arizona offense looked pretty ineffectual the first time through the lineup with three hits and a walk. Their best scoring opportunity in the third was snuffed out when Jose Fernandez elected to try and score on a slow bouncer to third base and was easily tagged out. Thankfully, they rebounded to rally in the fifth and sixth innings to take the lead. In the former, they had consecutive doubles from Fernandez and Ryan Waldschmidt as well as a huge two-run double from Gabriel Moreno that bounced off the Green Monster and plated both Waldschmidt and Corbin Carroll. Then in the sixth, Torey Lovullo decided to pinch hit Lars Nootbaar for Jordan Lawlar (who is clearly still gett

The 2026 Red Sox are now just the tenth team in MLB history to win 27 out of 30 games, and the first team in MLB history to have done so after being 10 or more games under .500 at the start of that 30-game stretch. This is unprecedented, unbelievable and… unterrible.
Can they keep it going tonight? The seemingly unstoppable Jake Bennett takes the mound against Gage Jump, whose name is much better than his stat line: 4.59 ERA, 66.2 IP, 73 K, 31 BB, 7 HR. Unfortunately, he got the better out of the Sox out on the West Coast, throwing six shutout innings in the only game the A's would take from the Sox. Jarren Duran and Masatka Yoshida both take the bench against the lefty, with Jahmai Jones leading off at DH and Eli White making his first Red Sox start.
First Pitch: 4:10 PM
TV: NESN

#bennett

It feels like forever ago when Jarren Duran was an All-Star, and this year has certainly not gone the way he hoped it would.
Duran is hitting .206 with a .620 OPS in 106 games this year. He has played nearly every day thanks to the injury to Roman Anthony, but he simply has not gotten the job done. He admitted recently that he thought he was going to be released before the trade deadline due to his poor play.
Duran was a hot name in trade rumors in the offseason and at last year's deadline. Perhaps that was all weighing on him, but when the trade deadline passed, he was still on the Red Sox.
"I thought that I wasn't going to be here, which was understandable the way I've been playing," said Duran, per the Boston Globe's Alex Speier. "I'm just thankful that I have the opportunity to continue this run with this team and this organization, and hopefully make a playoff push."
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#duran #brand

Jarren Duran has not been good at the plate this year, but the Red Sox keep giving him opportunities.
Duran recently revealed that he thought he was undeserving of those opportunities and that he thought he was going to be released.
"To be honest, I thought I was going to be released," Duran said Tuesday at Fenway Park, per the Boston Globe's Alex Speier. "I am the worst player in MLB statistically. I hate looking at the numbers but when you're going bad, you look at the numbers and it was pretty obvious how bad I was. I thought I was going to be released.
"There were a couple times where I yelled at (interim manager Chad Tracy), like, 'I shouldn't be playing! What are you guys (expletive) doing? I shouldn't even be in this lineup.' And then something good would happen, and Trace would be like, 'That's why you're in the (expletive) lineup!'"
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#thought

BOSTON (AP) — Caleb Durbin hit a grand slam, Patrick Sandoval earned his first major league win in more than two years and the Boston Red Sox extended their winning streak to six games with a 14-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.
Wilyer Abreu launched a pair of solo homers for the rolling Red Sox, who hit four home runs for the second consecutive game and have won 24 of their last 27.
Sandoval (1-0) struck out five and allowed two runs on six hits and four walks over five-plus innings. It was his first win since May 7, 2024, when he pitched for the Angels before missing half that season and all of 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The Red Sox had to come from behind in their previous six wins but broke this one open early with six runs in the first. Durbin did the bulk of the damage with a grand slam to left field and Jarren Durran followed with a shot to right. Ceddanne Rafaela, whose streak of three straight games with a homer came to an end, also had an RBI single in the inning.
Brayan Bello pitched the final three innings for Boston and picked up his first career save.

#durbin

BOSTON (AP) — Caleb Durbin hit a grand slam, Patrick Sandoval earned his first major league win in more than two years and the Boston Red Sox extended their winning streak to six games with a 14-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.
Wilyer Abreu launched a pair of solo homers for the rolling Red Sox, who hit four home runs for the second consecutive game and have won 24 of their last 27.
Sandoval (1-0) struck out five and allowed two runs on six hits and four walks over five-plus innings. It was his first win since May 7, 2024, when he pitched for the Angels before missing half that season and all of 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The Red Sox had to come from behind in their previous six wins but broke this one open early with six runs in the first. Durbin did the bulk of the damage with a grand slam to left field and Jarren Durran followed with a shot to right. Ceddanne Rafaela, whose streak of three straight games with a homer came to an end, also had an RBI single in the inning.
Brayan Bello pitched the final three innings for Boston and picked up his first career save.

#sandoval #four

Have the Boston Red Sox seen the last of outfielder Jarren Duran in their clubhouse?
The rumors are flying fast and furious as Monday's 6 p.m. ET trade deadline.
Among the most curious trade candidates is Duran, who's hitting a career-low .200 this season.
Yes, he was an All-Star in 2024, when he led the majors with 48 doubles and 14 triples.
And yes, he has 14 home runs in 104 games this year, including his solo blast in Sunday's 8-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

#boston #star #Dodgers

On the third pitch of the game, Ceddanne Rafaela homered and the Sox were off and running. Yippee! 1-0.
Then in the second, Payton Tolle gave up a homer that scored two. Ouch! He then proceeded to load the bases. Yikes! It was a nerve-wracking inning, though a ball that would have likely scored two runs ended up landing just foul, bouncing right over the line in front of Wilyer Abreu. The old July luck was clearly still with the Sox because Tolle managed to get out of the inning with only those two early runs. It felt like an August miracle. Dodgers 2-1.
Rafaela repeated with another homer to left field in the third inning, tying it up, 2-2.
Although Tolle struggled early, he settled down after that rough second inning, at one point striking out four in a row across the fourth and fifth innings. He finished with 9 H, 2 ER, 2 BB and 7K, not his best game by any means, but pretty darn impressive anyway, with how he turned things around. It looked like it would be a short outing, but he ground it out, didn't have any further issues, and turned it over to the bullpen after six full innings. The bullpen was spot-on, giving the offense (other than Rafaela) a chance to show up.
By the bottom of the sixth inning, the Dodgers had out-hit the Sox 9-2. The Sox held there until a ground-rule double by Andruw Monasterio in the eighth. He was followed by Jarren Duran who bunted to put men on the corners. Connor Wong then grounded into a double play – but the good kind, the kind that allows the runner to score from third. Hooray for small ball! Sox took the lead 3-2.

#second

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ceddane Rafaela's go-ahead two-run homer highlighted a five-run seventh inning and the Boston Red Sox rallied after blowing an early lead to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-4 on Friday night in the series opener.
The Red Sox led 3-0 in the third before the Dodgers scored a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth on Shohei Ohtani's two-run, two-out blast to take a 4-3 lead.
Ohtani was 2 for 5 with two runs and two RBIs a night after sitting out because of lingering soreness in his left knee that has kept the two-way superstar off the mound since July 3.
Dodgers reliever Cole Irvin (0-1) gave up a leadoff walk to Nick Sogard in the fifth. Rafaela followed with a 405-foot shot to left that put the Red Sox back in front, 5-4.
Andruw Monasterio's two-run RBI double and Jarren Duran's RBI groundout to Irvin extended the lead to 8-4.

#ceddane

WEST SACRAMENTO — Jarren Duran was clearly mad after he hit a 245-foot fly-out to left field during the sixth inning Thursday.
It's just unclear if he was mad at teammate Willson Contreras, third base coach Chad Epperson or himself.
The Red Sox won 5-4 over the Athletics at Sutter Health Park, earning their seventh consecutive series victory. But Duran's on-field antics received as much attention as Boston's comeback, if not more.
BETTING: Red Sox moneyline is set at +116 on FanDuel for Friday night's game against the Dodgers. Our complete FanDuel Sportsbook review provides an in-depth guide on how to use their app.
Epperson held Contreras at third base on Duran's shallow fly ball. As Duran headed to the dugout, he gestured toward third base, raising his arm and yelling something.

#contreras

The Boston Red Sox have clawed their way back into the postseason picture with a 15-game win streak after the season looked all but unsalvageable. Heading into the final day of the month, Boston is 25-5 in July and in possession of a Wild Card spot as things stand.
As the Red Sox gear up for a massive weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, everything is going as well as any fan could've hoped, other than one recurring headache: Jarren Duran.
In Thursday's win over the Athletics, Duran appeared to take exception with Willson Contreras not tagging up from third on his pop-out to try and turn the routine out into a pop fly.
After the game, Duran, who is slashing a miserable .195/.252/.337, downplayed the incident.
"That's nothing. It's something within the team that we have that we work on, and it's nothing," he said after being asked about it. "Like, you guys don't need to know. ****** ody needs to know. That's something between us and the team that we know what it's about. So that doesn't really matter."

#know #team #wild

NEW YORK — The Red Sox will unplug the struggling Jarren Duran from the outfield — but not the lineup — as they finish the unofficial first half of their season at Citi Field on Sunday.
With left-hander Zach Thornton pitching for the Mets, the Red Sox will start Nate Eaton in left field and have Duran serve as the designated hitter for the seventh time this season. Saturday hero Andruw Monasterio is the shortstop with Romy Gonzalez back in the lineup at first base. Connor Wong is doing the catching.
Interim manager Chad Tracy opted to go with Duran at DH over Masataka Yoshida, who homered in Saturday's 4-0 win. Duran has hit just .217 with a .606 OPS against lefties this year, which is actually better than his .186 average against right-handers. So far in July, Duran is hitting just .167 with a double and a homer in eight games.
On the mound, lefty Payton Tolle will get his 15th start of the season, but Tracy hinted that the Red Sox plan to give him a shorter outing than usual with righty Brayan Bello, who was recalled earlier in the day, serving as a potential piggyback option. It's clear Boston is hopeful that it can get Tolle some extra rest as the All-Star break approaches.
The Red Sox have won a season-high eight games in a row to start their nine-game road trip, which concludes Sunday. They enter the day winners of 16 of their last 21 games and are now just a half-game out of a wild card spot in the American League. After Sunday's matinee, they will have four days off for the All-Star break before resuming play with a doubleheader against the Rays on Friday at Fenway.

The White Sox bats have gone comatose.
Four singles. That was it. Chicago never seriously threatened a rally in a 5-0 snoozer against Boston, snapping its 10-game home series winning streak. The offense has seemingly vanished, producing just one run in 21 innings dating back to the Cleveland series. Thankfully, the Guardians bailed the South Siders out by getting walked off in Minnesota. The All-Star break can't get here fast enough.
Davis Martin came out dealing, mowing down Boston on 10 pitches in the first with two loud fly outs and a K. Jake Bennett matched him, and Martin tossed another clean frame in the second. Early hope, quickly dashed.
Chicago squandered its best scoring opportunity in the second when Meidroth singled, Antonacci walked, two on, ***** ody out. Cue the collapse. Braden Montgomery whiffed on a high heater, Junior Perez watched strike three zip by, and Kyle Teel dribbled one to kill the rally before it started.
Boston cracked Martin hard in the third. A leadoff walk to Jarren Duran, a sac bunt by Carlos Narváez, and a single by Tsung-Che Cheng put Boston on the board. Chen then scooted to third on a Teel miscue. The mess continued with another walk, this time to Anthony Seigler, then Ceddanne Rafaela laced a double for 2-0. A wild pitch uncorked by Martin allowed Seigler to race home before Perez ended the mess by colliding with the center-field wall.

Red Sox must address these three positions if they want to become World Series contenders again originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Boston Red Sox are on a roll recently, trying to dig themselves out of the deep hole they put themselves into earlier this season. If they can climb out of it, a postseason run isn’t out of the question.
However, if they stumble and totally fall out of contention, they will need to address a few positions on their roster. They were able to solidify their rotation, first base and third base, but there’s still a few weak spots on the roster.
© Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Right now, the Red Sox have been using the DH spot as a committee role; a player that needs some rest from the field just takes the DH slot, and only hits for that game. To start the season, it was split between Roman Anthony and Jarren Duran to solve the logjam in the outfield. However, with Anthony’s injury, it got downgraded to a committee role.

The Philadelphia Phillies fired Rob Thomson earlier this year, but have turned their season around under Don Mattingly.
The Phillies started 9-19 with Thomson, and are 41-21 under Mattingly. While they are playing well, they still have holes that need to be filled if they want to win the National League. The ideal trade target could be on another team that fired its manager this year.
The Boston Red Sox fired Alex Cora this season, but unlike the Phillies, they have not gotten their season on track. While the Phillies explore the market for additions, the Red Sox are likely headed toward being sellers. Jarren Duran could be the ideal fit for the Phillies now that Adolis Garcia is out for the year. The Phillies have Brandon Marsh, who was named an All-Star for the first time this season, but the other two outfield spots could use an upgrade.
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Duran was an All-Star in 2024, regressed in 2025 and has really struggled this year. However, he has two years of club control after this season and could benefit from a change of scenery. Not only could the Red Sox be looking to sell anyway, but Duran does not have a real fit after this season.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Ryan Johnson profiled as one of the Angels' most promising pitching prospects after he was drafted in 2024, but so far in his sophomore season Johnson simply hasn't found his groove, especially not on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox.
While he started his night by striking out the first four batters he faced and the Angels offense gave him an early three run lead to work with, Johnson went just four innings while allowing five earned runs courtesy of a two-run home run by Jarren Duran and Wilson Contreras' second three-run home run of the series.
Though he might have escaped the fourth inning without giving up the long ball to Contreras, but Zach Neto bobbled what would have been the third out to allow Wilyer Abreu to reach base, setting the table for Contreras to do some damage.
Robert Sloter - The Sporting Tribune
Zach Neto #9 of the Los Angeles Angels celebrates against the Boston Red Sox at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on July 5, 2026 in Anaheim, California.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras homered, and five Boston pitchers combined to give up two runs over 6 1/3 innings in relief of injured starter Ranger Suarez to lead the Red Sox to a 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday night.
Boston’s eighth victory in 10 games completed a three-game sweep of the Angels, who have lost six straight and 12 of 19 since June 14.
Suarez, named to the American League All-Star team Saturday, exited with two outs in the third because of left adductor tightness, an injury he sustained when he jumped for Jo Adell’s chopper over the mound.
The left-hander was followed by Greg Weissert (1-2), Tyron Guerrero and Garrett Whitlock, who combined for 4 1/3 hitless innings. Justin Slaten gave up a run in the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman allowed a solo homer to Zach Neto in the ninth before earning his 18th save.
The Angels scored twice in the first on Jorge Soler’s grounder and Adell’s RBI single. Boston tied it 2-all in the second on Duran’s 13th homer, a two-run shot to right-center off starter Ryan Johnson (1-4).

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras homered, and five Boston pitchers combined to give up two runs over 6 1/3 innings in relief of injured starter Ranger Suarez to lead the Red Sox to a 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday night.
Boston’s eighth victory in 10 games completed a three-game sweep of the Angels, who have lost six straight and 12 of 19 since June 14.
Suarez, named to the American League All-Star team Saturday, exited with two outs in the third because of left adductor tightness, an injury he sustained when he jumped for Jo Adell’s chopper over the mound.
The left-hander was followed by Greg Weissert (1-2), Tyron Guerrero and Garrett Whitlock, who combined for 4 1/3 hitless innings. Justin Slaten gave up a run in the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman allowed a solo homer to Zach Neto in the ninth before earning his 18th save.
The Angels scored twice in the first on Jorge Soler’s grounder and Adell’s RBI single. Boston tied it 2-all in the second on Duran’s 13th homer, a two-run shot to right-center off starter Ryan Johnson (1-4).

BOSTON — Willson Contreras has found himself at the center of a handful of kerfuffles as a member of the Red Sox this season. On Tuesday, tensions boiled over in the fourth inning against the Nationals.
With Boston leading 1-0, Contreras struck out looking against Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli, who froze him on a sweeper in the zone. Cavalli then appeared to yell something in Contreras’ direction, and the first baseman heard it. At that point, while walking back to the dugout, Contreras turned toward the mound, apparently to ask Cavalli if he was talking to him.
MORE: Chad Tracy: Red Sox-Nationals brawl caused by ‘Sit down, boy’ comment toward Willson Contreras
Contreras and Cavalli kept jawing as catcher Keibert Ruiz tried to calm Contreras down. Interim third base coach Chad Epperson came over to defuse the situation as the dugouts cleared. Then, chaos ensued.
Contreras broke free from Ruiz and Epperson and ran toward the scrum on the field, where Jarren Duran was in the middle of some arguing with Nationals players. Contreras, lunging in Cavalli’s direction, then tried to spike-throw his helmet toward the pitcher but instead appeared to strike first baseman Andrés Chaparro, who was tangled up with Caleb Durbin. From there, the pushing and shoving escalated.

BOSTON — Instant reactions as Sonny Gray pitches 7 ⅓ no-hit innings, the Red Sox (36-46) blow a late lead — and then rally for a crazy, dramatic 5-4, 10-inning win to finish off a four-game sweep of the Yankees on Sunday night:
1) What looked like one of the worst losses imaginable turned into perhaps Boston’s best win of the year. The Yankees rallied back from a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth to score four unanswered runs, but the Red Sox punched back with a three-run 10th-inning rally and won the game on a Jarren Duran walk-off single.
Shortly after Justin Slaten allowed two Yankees runs in the top of the inning, Anthony Seigler led off with an RBI single to make it a one-run game, scoring the automatic runner. Pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida then jumped on the first pitch Fernando Cruz threw him to put two runners in scoring position with a double into right field. Then, Tsung-Che Cheng’s sacrifice fly tied it before Duran — who didn’t start the game against lefty Carlos Rodón — ended it by shooting a 1-1 slider into right field, finding green grass with the Yankees playing with five infielders.
Cruz allowed three runs while recording just one out. It was Boston’s second walk-off win of the year and the first since April 17. Duran now has two walk-off hits, with the other coming in 2024.
2) For much of the night, Gray looked like he was going to make history, dominating the Yankees lineup for 7 ⅓ hitless innings in his best outing of 2026. With one out in the eighth, Amed Rosario laced a single up the middle, ending Gray’s no-hit bid — and his night.

BOSTON (AP) — Jarren Duran singled home the winning run to cap a three-run rally in the 10th inning after Boston blew a two-run lead in the ninth, and the Red Sox finished a four-game sweep of the rival New York Yankees with a 5-4 victory Sunday night.
Boston starter Sonny Gray took a no-hitter into the eighth against his former team before Amed Rosario singled with one out. That ended a brilliant outing for Gray, who had nine strikeouts to reach 2,000 for his career.
But the Yankees scored twice in the ninth off All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman to tie it 2-all, aided enormously by a brutal throwing error from two-time Gold Glove right fielder Wilyer Abreu.
New York scratched across two more runs in the 10th, taking advantage of another throwing error by Abreu after Rosario’s sinking liner squirted out of his glove for an RBI single. But right-hander Fernando Cruz (4-3) was unable to hold the lead after closer David Bednar had pitched the previous two innings.
Boston’s first four-game sweep of the Yankees at home since 2018 marked the first four-game winning streak this season for the last-place Red Sox.

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During Saturday’s 4-1 win over the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran was involved in a verbal exchange with a fan at Fenway Park.
The incident occurred during the eighth inning after Duran grounded out to first base, finishing off an 0-for-4 day at the plate with two strikeouts. Earlier in the game, Duran broke his bat by slamming it on the on-deck circle after he struck out in the third inning.
While walking toward the dugout, he began trading remarks with a spectator. Red Sox players saw the commotion and pointed out a fan to security. The fan in question was addressed by a security guard and was eventually removed from the game.
Asked about the incident afterward, Duran spoke to reporters for less than 30 seconds, repeatedly saying “Nothing happened.”