The Red Sox' pivotal seventh-inning Thursday night was bizarre enough.
There were six runs without ball going further than Kiké Hernandez's 211-foot, two-run bloop into left field. Whatever the case, the frame was the difference-maker when it came to the Sox' 10-6 win over the Rangers.
But within the flurry of high choppers, well-placed liners and free passes was one instance from the inning before that might have represented the most significance of anything else. And it came from a player who didn't even seen a single pitch.
With Nathan Eovaldi sitting at 96 pitches and his Rangers holding a two-run lead with one out in the sixth, Alex Cora sent up Jarren Duran to hit for David Hamilton. Considering what Eovaldi represented, and that Duran hadn't started against the righty, the expectation by many would be that the two former teammates would be facing off for the first time.
But Texas manager Bruce Bochy decided his better chance would be to send out lefty Brock Burke. The counter by Cora - without Duran stepping into the batter's box - was sending out Rob Refsnyder as a second pinch-hitter. The move paid off with Refsnyder drawing the Red Sox within a run with an RBI single.
So, other than the out-of-the-ordinary move to burn Duran in just the sixth inning, what made the moment so noteworthy? Well, it actually showed how far the outfielder had come.
"He actually changed the game tonight," Cora said of Duran. The manager continued, "He's a threat right now. They respected that, went aggressive to their bullpen and we took advantage of it."
So, one month ago, when Duran's batting average had dropped to .274, would Bochy have feared the outfielder enough to pull Eovaldi?
"Probably not," Cora noted when asked the question.
But this is who Duran has become, a legitimate feared presence in the Red Sox' batting order. As Refsnyder said after the Red Sox' win, "You don't see a lot of players like him." When talking about what he has become over the past month or so, that is certainly the case.
Since June 8, Duran is hitting .397 with an OPS of 1.059, seventh-best in the majors of all hitters with at least 66 plate appearances. He has also stolen eight bases during that stretch without being thrown out once.
For the season, Duran his hitting .309 with an .849 OPS, having been successful in all but one of his 17 stolen base attempts.
He represents the type of positive momentum the Red Sox desperately need, as is evident by the team winning five of the last six games Duran has appeared in - including the one a presence was felt simply by hearing his name over the Fenway Park sound system.
"I don't know. I haven't really gone around and asked so I wouldn't know. I'm just trying to put good at-bats together and how they think of me, they think of me," Duran said when asked about the possible perception-changing that is going on. "I'm just another guy they are just trying to face."
Not Thursday night, they weren't.
