KANSAS CITY -- The Jarren Duran show at Kauffman Stadium had an encore, and a much-needed one for the Red Sox.
While Duran broke the game open with a huge swing in the ninth inning on Tuesday, he put his team ahead again on Wednesday, belting a two-run homer to left in the seventh to lead his team to a 4-3 victory that capped a three-game sweep over the Royals. He later notched his first triple of the season with a 114.1 mph rocket to right-center field, adding to the notion that he’s about to get hot.
“I'm trending in the upward direction, and I'm just trying to stay simple and do stuff to help the team win,” said Duran.
Following the 7-1 win on Tuesday, Duran was so conscious about trying to keep the feel he had at the plate going into Wednesday that he joked he might sleep in the spacious visitor’s clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium rather than go back to the team hotel.
Did he?
“I can neither confirm nor deny if I slept here or not. I guess that will be a mystery for the rest of the season,” quipped Duran.
He certainly made himself at home these last couple of nights in Kansas City, mashing the ball from line to line while also running down everything in his sights in left field.
The fact that Duran drilled his sixth homer of the season to the opposite field was certainly a good sign with the Red Sox getting ready to return to Fenway on Friday.
The Green Monster is very rewarding to left-handed hitters who go the other way, which Duran has experienced first-hand various times in his career, but not so far this season.
Before getting back to Boston, Duran was pleased to be able to give his teammates a souvenir.
“It's always fun to hit a homer, especially oppo, because this one was into our bullpen, too,” Duran said. “So that was always a cool thing. I got to see them jumping around for me, which is probably what made my night.”
Duran made Red Sox lefty and winning pitcher Connelly Early’s night in the bottom of the third, making like Spider-Man and leaping in front of the netting down the left-field line to make a tremendous catch in foul territory. With a wide smile on his face, Early raised his arms with appreciation for his highly athletic left fielder.
“I don't know how he caught the one down the line,” Early said. “He's a freak athlete, and when he goes out there and shows you what he can do, it’s pretty special.”
When it comes to making an exceptional play, Duran will do everything in his power to come up with it, and not for the purpose of getting onto a highlight reel.
“I'm willing to get hurt to make a play for my pitchers, so I wasn't really thinking about [the railing or the netting],” said Duran. “I was just trying to make a play for Earls. He’s going really good, and I was just trying to give him one easy out.”
Very little has come easy for the 22-27 Red Sox this season, but they showed some flashes of improvement in the final stages of this 4-2 road trip, particularly on offense.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the offense is starting to look more cohesive at the same time Duran is finding his groove.
“His at-bats have been good for about five games now, dating back to Atlanta,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “And yeah, when you're sitting atop the offense in front of Wilyer [Abreu] and Willson [Contreras] and that group of guys, if he starts going, it's no secret that's going to help us go. He's taking some really, really big at-bats right now.”
While Duran tends to press when he is in a slump, he is at his best when he just lets his athleticism play, which is what happened when he took the biggest swing of Wednesday’s game.
“I was just looking to put a good swing on the ball. I wasn't trying to do too much, and especially in that situation, getting on is just as good as getting a hit,” said Duran. “I wasn't trying to do too much, just looking for a pitch I could do some damage with, and I just got a good pitch.”
As Duran heads home, he does so with a batting line (.195/.266/.362) that shows the kind of hole he dug to start the season.
But he also boarded a happy flight with momentum, and more than enough season left (113 games) to turn those numbers around.