The Boston Red Sox couldn’t get much offense going as they welcomed the historic rival New York Yankees to Fenway Park on Tuesday.
As the team looks to reverse a poor start to its season and make up some distance in the American League East division standings, manager Alex Cora was surely hoping for more production at the plate. Instead, the team mustered just four hits and no runs in a shutout loss.
“In the fourth, the Sox went down on seven pitches in 2 minutes and 13 seconds. In the sixth, they lasted five pitches and 1 minute, 41 seconds,” Tim Healey noted for The Boston Globe. “It might not get easier for the Red Sox, either. The next two nights, they are slated to face lefthander Max Fried and righthander Cam Schlittler.”
Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora Sends Jarren Duran Message After Benching
Cora will be looking to avoid similar offensive droughts as the series goes on, but it seems like he won’t be moving outfielder Jarren Duran back into the lineup against the left-handed Fried.
Duran was moved to the bench for Tuesday’s game with Yankees right-hander Luis Gil getting the start, but he’s typically worse against southpaws. On Tuesday, Cora sent a warning about Duran’s recent at-bats as he detailed the decision to move him out of the starting lineup.
“Chasing pitches, early on he was taking walks and now he’s chasing, we’ve got to make sure we swing at the right ones,” Cora said of Duran, per MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “As a group we did a good job (on Monday), controlling the strike zone, putting the ball in play. We just got to keep continuing to do that.”
Boston Red Sox Could Look To Cut Ties With Jarren Duran This Season
Duran, who earned an All-Star bid during a breakout 2024 campaign with the Red Sox, has struggled mightily to start this latest season. He is slashing just .162/.240/.250 as the team shuffles through several other outfield and designated hitter options in Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony and Masataka Yoshida.
Ultimately, the struggles and that surplus could motivate the Red Sox to cut ties with Duran, particularly if he’s unable to adjust his at-bats following the manager’s warning about his penchant to chase.
“The Red Sox can’t afford to keep Duran on the bench much longer and preserve any of his trade value, and it’s a risky game to play to wait for an injury to happen to open up more consistent at-bats,” Jackson Roberts wrote for On SI. “Either Duran needs to heat up and take over his at-bats that are going to Masataka Yoshida right now, or Boston has to finally make a move it’s seemingly been dreading.”
