Duran electrifies Sox with THIRD career steal of home

CLEVELAND -- The third inning of Game 2 of the Red Sox’ 7-3 win over the Guardians in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader was the perfect encapsulation of how dangerous Jarren Duran can be.

It started with his bat when he roped an RBI triple into the right-field corner with a ball that left his bat at 99.8 miles per hour.

And it ended with his legs when he pulled off a straight steal of home against Cleveland starter Doug Nikhazy.

While Duran’s sprint speed of 25 feet/sec. was fairly pedestrian (by his standards), he was able to make it happen thanks to an incredible secondary lead. He entered Saturday’s game in the 94th percentile in sprint speed.

It marked the first time a Red Sox player pulled off a straight steal of home since Jacoby Ellsbury on April 26, 2009 -- exactly 16 years before Duran’s steal on Saturday.

“In this environment, with the new rules, he’s kind of like the perfect player,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He runs the bases well and hits the ball hard. He’s an exciting player. We saw a window there and he took advantage.”

The framework for Duran’s steal happened as soon as he reached third base. The Red Sox had noticed that Nikhazy had pitched out of the windup when the bases were loaded and then saw that Nikhazy declared that he was going to pitch out of the windup with Duran on third.

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With Nikhazy never checking on third, Duran crept about halfway down the third-base line before breaking into a sprint.

He reached the plate around the same time that the 87-mile-per-hour pitch got the plate, and he was able to evade the tag from Bo Naylor. Nikhazy’s pitch ended up on the right-hand side of the batter’s box, which meant that Naylor had to catch the ball before moving to put a tag down.

“I knew I was going first pitch if he was going to give it to me,” Duran said.

After the steal, Duran jumped and yelled before exchanging a high-five with Rafael Devers, who was up at the plate.

“[Devers] was the umpire on that play,” Cora said with a laugh. “He called him safe.”

The play set the Red Sox dugout into a frenzy while also increasing Boston’s lead to 6-0.

“He’s one of the most exciting players in baseball,” said starting pitcher Walker Buehler. “I've seen a lot of it from afar and I don’t think he’s off to the start he wanted but… he’s hitting the ball hard and it’s kind of coming [in]to fruition for him.”

After the play, Nikhazy admitted he should have tried to pick Duran off as opposed to throwing the pitch home.

“I brought my hands up getting ready to throw, and he took off immediately,” Nikhazy said. “I think I still could have stepped off at that moment, but instead I chose to make the pitch. I should have just stepped off."

It’s the third time he’s stolen home in his career after he pulled it off twice last year. It was the first time he had a straight steal of home since he did it with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs in 2019.

“I was able to cause a little chaos and keep the momentum of the play on our side,” Duran said.

Duran wasn’t the only Red Sox slump to break out on Saturday. Trevor Story broke his 0-for-17 slump with an RBI single in the first inning with his first swing of the game, and Rafael Devers added to the solo home run he hit in Game 1 with a 2-for-4 performance, tacking on a double, an RBI and a walk.

Duran’s three steals of home are the most by a Red Sox player in at least the expansion era (1961). The Red Sox will be hoping that Duran’s incredible athletic feat helps get him going in what has been a bit of a rough season for him. He entered Game 2 hitting just .241 on the season, but finished the game 3-for-5 with a triple, stolen base, two RBIs and three runs scored. He now has nine steals, which leads the American League.

“It was fun to watch,” Cora said.