MIAMI – The Red Sox keep telling one another that they have a sickness.
They are sick with the desire to win a ballgame, no matter what. It is something they developed after starting the season with a losing record, but for Jarren Duran, there is no cure.
“We have to win,” Duran said. “There is no other option. That is the [identity] that we have created.”
On Tuesday, that was true like any other day, with Duran hitting a go-ahead grand slam in the 11th inning to secure Boston’s 7-3 win over the Marlins at loanDepot park.
After going 0-for-4 on the day with two strikeouts, he took an 80.4 mph sweeper from lefty Cade Gibson deep to right field, with the ball traveling a Statcast-projected 412 feet.
With Willson Contreras, Jahmai Jones and Andruw Monasterio on the bases, Duran approached that moment like it was any other day in the Majors.
“I feel like we've been in these situations so many times throughout our career,” said Duran, who hit his first grand slam against the Orioles on April 25, 2023. “It just kind of becomes normal to come up in a situation like that. So just kind of try and keep yourself calm and act like you've done that before, and just stay confident.”
His 17 RBIs in the ninth inning or later this season lead MLB. To him, late innings are when he can take pressure off himself.
“I just gotta do something for the team, which makes it so much easier for me,” Duran said. “It's like, ‘All right, I just have to do the job.’ Whereas like earlier in the game, I'm like, ‘I have to get a hit here, like, I have to get on base.’”
The left fielder owns a .209 average and .636 OPS this season with 34 walks, 14 doubles and 18 homers. Last season, he had a .256 average and .774 OPS with 60 walks, 41 doubles and 16 homers.
His numbers have climbed up a bit in August, when he is hitting .263. That is something that is not lost on Willson Contreras.
“We know Duran has had a hard season but he has never stopped working,” Contreras said in Spanish. “He has never stopped coming out to play with energy or giving the best of him.”
For Contreras, the team's success of late has also come with recognizing what type of game is needed to win on a certain day, whether that is with the long ball or small-ball play.
On Tuesday, they opted for the long ball.
Mickey Gasper opened the scoring in the top of the second, when he drove a 96.5 mph offering from Miami starter Tyler Phillips deep to center field.
Miami answered in the fifth when Brian Navarreto tied the game with a sacrifice fly after a 10-pitch at-bat. But Gasper put Boston back in front in the sixth, this time with his farthest-hit home run of the season.
With Tyler Zuber taking over on the mound to start the inning, Gasper turned on a 95 mph four-seam fastball and sent it a Statcast-projected 418 feet for his fifth homer of the season to bring the score to 2-1.
But for Gasper to see the ball leave the park on Duran’s swing was a reminder of why they play the game.
“Extra innings, bases loaded, that's what you do in the backyard,” Gasper said. “It's probably one of the coolest swings I've ever seen in person. Just being a big-time guy, getting a big hit. It just shows that we're never out of it. No matter how your day's going, it's the next at-bat that counts the most.”
Miami tied the game in the sixth when Heriberto Hernández homered before Boston took the lead in the top of the 10th. Automatic runner Connor Wong scored on a passed ball by Navarreto after it hit home-plate umpire David Rackley. Miami then tied the game in the bottom of the frame on a dropped third strike that would have ended the game if the out was recorded.
“A wild game,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “No doubt about it. … There was a lot of stuff going on on both sides and back-and-forth and tied and then it's untied.
“It felt like somebody's going to have to get a two-run swing or something. We got a four-run swing.”