Do-it-all Duran puts on late-inning show to help Red Sox rally

CINCINNATI -- Jarren Duran saved the Red Sox on Saturday.

Duran robbed Stuart Fairchild of a game-tying home run to center when he leaped at the wall and brought the ball back with one out in the ninth, capping off a 2-for-4 day that also included scoring the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly that was only 229 feet off the bat of Rafael Devers.

Duran and Connor Wong each extended their respective hit streaks to 12 games as the Red Sox rallied from three runs down to take a 4-3 decision from the Reds before 31,803 at Great American Ball Park.

Reliever Zack Kelly (2-1) recorded the final out of the seventh, while Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 14th save in 15 chances.

Before the game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora raved about the leadership that Duran -- who has played in all 77 games -- has displayed this season for a young club. That leadership led Duran to recommit to his desire to play in all 162 games this year.

“In my mind, yeah, absolutely. I'm fully committed,” Duran said. “I mean, [I] can't go half [hearted] on it. I'm fully committed. And every day I'm gonna come in here and work and prepare for every game.”

Whether it’s going full bore on a 229 foot fly to left or playing 162 games, Duran is all-in.

“I feel like every day is a push,” Duran added. “I’ve got good teammates, a great clubhouse, great coaches. Every day is an honor for me to be able to be in the lineup and play with these teammates. And playing with them and this coaching staff behind me, man, I wouldn't trade this for the world.”

On Saturday, that leadership was on full display.

“Running and all aspects of the game, he is fantastic,” Cora said. “He understands who he is. I think that's the most important thing. Now he knows what he needs to do on a daily basis to perform at this level, and from the leadoff hit, to the play at the end, the tag-up at third base. That was a fun game to watch.”

Out since Tuesday with right knee soreness, Rob Refsnyder came off the bench with a game-tying pinch-hit single in the eighth that scored Ceddanne Rafaela, who opened with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error.

One out later, in a near-identical replay of Fred Lynn’s pop fly in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, Devers lofted a flyball down the left-field line that Fairchild caught.

But unlike George Foster’s strike to Johnny Bench to nab Denny Doyle, Duran beat the throw of Fairchild for a 4-3 Boston lead.

“He was in my ear. He's like, ‘Hey, we're going, we're going, we're going,” Duran said of third-base coach Kyle Hudson. “So I was always fully committed to going home.”

Would Duran have left third even if the light weren’t green?

“I don't know if I should say that, because he might get [on my case] about it,” Duran smiled. “But yeah, I feel like we're a good team and like we can push the envelope in situations like that. … It just worked out in our favor. We’re about pushing the envelope around here.”

The Red Sox forced a tie of this weekend series by taking advantage of Cincinnati’s miscues on the bases to overcome an early 3-0 hole.

While the Red Sox were giving the Reds valuable extra outs in the seventh inning Friday night, the Reds were the ones making mental blunders Saturday, and in consecutive innings, no less.

In both the fifth and sixth, the Reds had runners on the corners with one out. In both cases they had a runner thrown out at the plate, and in both innings, they failed to plate an insurance run.

Shortstop David Hamilton threw out TJ Friedl at home on a contact play in the fifth, while Elly De La Cruz was caught off second and trapped in a run-down to end the frame. In the sixth, Jake Fraley came down from third on a swinging bunt by Nick Martini. Wong came from behind the plate, picked up the ball and easily tagged Fraley, who offered no slide or resistance.