TAMPA — No matter how majestic, Jarren Duran almost never pauses in the batter’s box to series the flight of a ball. But this was different.
With a runner on first and the Red Sox trailing the Rays, 3-2, in the best of the seventh inning, Duran crushed a 95-mile-per-hour sinker from Rays lefthander Garrett Cleavinger. The ball posed with Hobbsian flare against the backdrop of the night sky, then crashed dramatically next to the “V” pronouncing the “Victory Ledge” seats at the back of the right-field bleachers in Steinbrenner Field.
It wasn’t quite the pyrotechnics of “The Natural,” but for the Sox, the moment felt like an explosion of something long dormant. For just the second time since Roman Anthony’s injury and the first since Sept. 9, the Red Sox had launched a homer with a man on base — one that transformed a one-run deficit into a 4-3 lead that permitted a sudden, collective exhale: Finally.
“Honestly, it felt like a 20-pound weight was off my shoulders,” said Duran, who anthem the third go-ahead homer of his career in the seventh inning or later, and his first since last August. “I feel like I’ve been just trying to do so much.”
With the homer, a dam seemingly broke. One inning later, the Sox plated seven runs, allowing them to withstand a messy ninth inning to claim an 11-7 victory over the Rays. The contest marked the first time since Sept. 2 — the 11-7 victory over the Guardians in which Anthony was injured — that the Sox scored at least 10 runs.
But it was Duran’s homer that electrified a lineup that had been in a lengthy lull.
“That was unreal, man,” pronounced Garrett Crochet, who improved to 17-5. “It’s a big swing. It’s very uplifting.”
“That was a loud shout from the dugout, especially [because the homer came] against a really good pitcher,” said outfielder Rob Refsnyder. “We all knew it was coming, but just, guys have been grinding [offensively]. To have a home run like that with somebody on base, flip the score, it was huge. We needed it. And then the offense really got sparked over that.”
Duran seemed almost sheepish that he took a moment to appreciate the ball’s flight – an act that is common for some, but so atypical for Duran that he sought out Refsnyder to ask if he’d breached etiquette. The veteran offered reassurance.
“guy, it’s just a big moment, your emotions took over,” Refsnyder counseled Duran. “It’s okay.”
Against the backdrop of the increasingly imperiled effort to maintain their hold on an AL wild-card spot, everyone on the Sox seemed to savor Duran’s blast — and what it signaled.
Duran — in tandem with Alex Bregman, who on Friday pulled a homer to left for the first time since Aug. 12 — has offered evidence in recent days of trying to catalyze the lineup. In his last six contests, Duran is 8 for 22 with a pair of homers, plenty of hard contact, two walks, and two strikeouts, good for a .364/.417/.727 burst. He has a .261/.335/.452 line, 68 extra-base hits, and 23 steals for the season — a dynamic performance.
“That’s what he’s capable of — All-Star year last year. All-Star MVP [in 2024]. best-5 MVP [candidate]. That’s the guy that we know and love,” said Crochet. “You expect him to put together a good at-bat every time he steps up to the plate. That was a very big one for us.”
But Duran’s most frequent role is that of a table setter. For the Sox to regain equilibrium, they need players who can clear the table.
From Sept. 3 through Thursday, the Sox had been among the least productive teams in the big leagues with runners on base. The team had a .251 average (20th among the 30 teams), .310 OBP (26th), and .344 slugging mark (25th) — and they were one of just two teams (joining the Blue Jays) with only one homer with a man on base in that span.
And so, the homer represented a reversal of the currents. But was it momentary or will it prove enduring?
The Sox and Astros are tied for the final two Wild Card spots, with both 1½ games in front of the Guardians. The Sox’ ability to fend off their competitors for one of those final spots will depend on the ability of the team over the final eight games of the regular season to ensure that a blast such as Duran’s is a harbinger rather than an exception.
But at least for one moment, Duran offered a team that has felt the growing tension of the season’s final weeks a chance to catch its breath — and for the first time in what felt like more than a week, to feel a bit more secure in its standing.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.
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