With his game-breaking speed, it was only a matter of time before Jarren Duran tried to steal home.
Saturday night the stars finally aligned.
Standing at third base with Cleveland Guardians left-hander Doug Nikhazy’s back turned, Duran took a huge lead and broke for home right as the pitcher began his windup. He was practically at the plate by the time the ball even reached catcher Bo Naylor, and he was able to slide his hand across just ahead of the tag.
The call was upheld on review, giving Duran the club’s first straight steal of home since Jacoby Ellsbury pulled off the feat exactly 16 years ago to the day against Andy Pettitte and the New York Yankees on April 26, 2009.
Duran went 3 for 5 with three runs and two RBI in the game, including an RBI triple immediately preceding his big steal, to help the Red Sox beat the Guardians 7-3 in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The win also snapped Boston’s three-game losing streak and put the club in position to win the series on Sunday.
Like in Saturday afternoon’s loss the Red Sox scored first and built up a solid early lead, only this time they were able to make the lead hold up. Trevor Story broke out of his 0 for 17 slump with an RBI single in the top of the first to break the ice, and the Red Sox scored three times with two outs in the top of the second to extend their lead to 4-0.
Duran drove in the first of those with an RBI single, Rafael Devers added an RBI double and Rob Refsnyder drew a walk with the bases loaded to finish the rally.
The Red Sox extended the lead to 6-0 in the third thanks to Duran’s heroics, but the Guardians had a counterpunch up their sleeve. Walker Buehler, who’d held Cleveland scoreless through the first three innings, gave up three runs in the fourth on an Angel Martinez RBI single and a two-run home run by Jhonkensy Noel.
That was pretty much the only blemish on Buehler’s day. The veteran right-hander went six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts for his third quality start of the season. Nikhazy, the Guardians starter, was making his MLB debut and allowed six runs on six walks and five hits over three innings.
Boston extended its lead again after Duran, Devers and Alex Bregman strung together three straight singles to lead off the sixth. Bregman’s ball was weakly hit and should have been a double play, but the Guardians botched a behind-the-back flip attempt at second, leaving all runners safe and allowing Duran to score to make it 7-3.
The bullpen took care of business from there. Justin Wilson threw a scoreless seventh, Justin Slaten a scoreless eighth and Aroldis Chapman finished the job in the ninth, firing in fastballs of 103.4 and 102.4 mph on his last two pitches of the game.
The former of those marked the fastest pitch by a Red Sox pitcher in the Statcast era, breaking his own record set last week at Fenway Park.
Brayan Bello (1-0, 1.80) will get the ball for Boston in Sunday’s series finale against Cleveland’s Logan Allen (1-1, 2.11). First pitch is scheduled for 1:40 p.m.