Talking Payton Tolle with farm director Brian Abraham
The Red Sox needed a jolt, so Jarren Duran went above and beyond.
The Red Sox outfielder helped his team break a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning with the first inside-the-park home run of his career, bringing in three runs against the Pirates. It ultimately led the Red Sox to a 5-2 victory over Pittsburgh in the series finale.
It was the second inside-the-park of season for the Red Sox, with Wilyer Abreu having accomplished the feat on June 30 at Fenway Park against the Reds. It is the first season the Red Sox have had multiple inside-the-park homers since 1998 when Nomar Garciaparra and Darren Lewis hit theirs.
The Red Sox are now the only team in Major League Baseball with more than one inside-the-park home run this season.
The play was made possible when Duran rifled a 103.1 mph line-drive into the right-center field gap with two outs and a pair of runners (Alex Bregman, Carlos Narvaez) on base.
After Pittsburgh right fielder Alexander Canario couldn't prevent the ball from going into the 420-foot triangle in center field, center fielder O'Neill Cruz was slow to dig it out before firing it in. But the relay wasn't nearly in time, with Duran crossing home plate standing up.
Duran went home to home in 14.71 seconds, the fastest time from home to home this year in MLB and the fastest by a Red Sox in the Statcast era. Since the start of the 2024 season, only two players had a faster home to home time, Pete Crow-Armstrong (14.08 seconds) and Corbin Carroll (14.32 seconds)
Earning the win for the Red Sox was starter Lucas Giolito, who allowed one run over six innings. He has now gone at least six innings with one or no runs allowed in six straight starts at Fenway (0.69 ERA) dating back to June 10.
He becomes the first pitcher in Red Sox history to go six or more innings with one or no runs in six consecutive home outings.