BOSTON -- A left pinky subluxation (partial dislocation), followed by a heavily delayed flight from Denver that got the Red Sox home in the wee hours of the morning, seemed like a recipe for Caleb Durbin getting Thursday night off to start a four-game series against the Yankees at Fenway Park.
But that isn’t really in Durbin’s DNA. The third baseman begrudgingly left Wednesday’s loss in the third inning after his ill-fated decision to slide into first base. By morning -- or rather, by the time he woke up in the afternoon -- Durbin informed interim manager Chad Tracy he had no interest in sitting out.
Back at third base and and in his customary No. 6 spot in the lineup, Durbin sent a jolt through a packed house of 36,307 at Fenway with a go-ahead two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the fifth that just cleared the Monster against one of the top pitchers in MLB in Cam Schlittler.
It was the biggest hit of the night, as the Red Sox edged out their rivals, 6-3.
“Yeah, that was awesome,” said Durbin. “Getting two runs on the board, having a big, big inning there, and getting two more on the board was just huge for us. And any time you hit a homer at Fenway, it's pretty electric.”
Particularly when it comes against a pitcher whose 1.62 ERA trails only Jacob Misiorowski (1.45) for the best in the Majors.
“I would say he's had our number, my number, but he's had about everyone's number,” Durbin said. “He's been really good. So that's where you just try to simplify it and get him in the zone. And I was fortunate to get a good pitch that I saw well.”
Given all of the circumstances, many were surprised when Durbin’s name was in the lineup when it was posted less than four hours before the first pitch.
Durbin wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“Once they told me that it was fine, and they kind of asked me, ‘It's up to you how it feels,’ I didn't really think about [not playing],” Durbin said. “I just wanted to be out there.”
Given Durbin’s background of getting drafted out of a Division III school and rising to the Majors despite his diminutive stature, perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that the injury didn’t keep him out of the lineup.
“I’m proud of that kid, man. I think he was sitting in the postgame [clubhouse] and said he was more disappointed that they couldn't get [the finger] back in right away [on Wednesday] and [he could] go back in the field,” said Tracy. “But they were able to get it back in, and all things considered, it was a little sore and he said he was ready to go. So we dodged a bullet there. And you worry about when that happens -- is there a break in there?”
In fact, the trainers didn’t even have to pop the finger back into place.
Durbin said it happened naturally after he took his glove off.
“I assume so, because I looked at it originally and it wasn't straight, and then when I went to do the X-rays after the glove came off, it was straight,” said Durbin. “I didn't want to look at it, but when I took the glove off, it straightened up.”
This was all fortunate news for the Red Sox, because Durbin has gone from one of the team’s coldest hitters for two months to one of the hottest over the last few weeks.
In his last 24 games and 91 plate appearances, Durbin has a batting line of .329/.352/.624 with eight doubles, five homers and 16 RBIs.
It is in stark contrast to his first 48 games of the season, when, over 164 plate appearances, he slashed .163/.241/.238 with one homer (off a position player) and 16 RBIs.
“It's pretty night and day,” Durbin said. “There’s a lot that goes into it. Swing feels better. Approach feels better. Confidence is better to where you're not really thinking of anything. You're just up there trying to get a good pitch to hit. That’s when you're at your best. I knew I'd get there eventually. It took a little bit of time, which was frustrating, but it's part of the journey."
Much like a little injury couldn’t keep Durbin down -- even for a day -- neither could a prolonged batting slump in a pressurized market.
“Right now when he shows up, you're feeling pretty good about it,” said Tracy. “You want him up there, and that was a heck of an AB he put on [Schlittler]. He's been doing that for a while. Pretty proud of him for where he was at, the expectations [on him] and the heat he was taking. He just went back and got up off the mat. And he's been taking great at-bats.”