Story by
Boston Red Sox’ Jarren Duran: ‘We’re putting pressure on ourselves’
- Story by
- Boston Red Sox’ Jarren Duran: ‘We’re putting pressure on ourselves’
BOSTON — The Red Sox managed just five hits in their 4-1 loss to the Yankees on Wednesday.
But one bright spot emerged from another dreadful offensive performance: Jarren Duran, who entered 11 for 68 (.162) this season , recorded three of those five hits. That includes two doubles off the Green Monster against Yankees left-handed starter Max Fried.
Advertisement
"Tough loss," said Duran, taking no consolation in the fact that he had a productive day offensively.
Duran knocked in Boston's lone run, driving a single to center field that scored Trevor Story in the bottom of the ninth.
"It's only one game," Duran said. "I'm happy with what I'm doing and just going to keep my head down and keep working."
The Sox have one run and nine hits in the first two games of this series, both losses. They are 26th in the major leagues in runs (90), averaging 3.75 per game.
"I'd say we're putting pressure on ourselves," Duran said. "I think that we're just trying to do too much. We're trying to dig ourselves out of a hole. But at the end of the day, I mean, we're not really in a hole. It's still early."
Advertisement
The Red Sox are 14.8% of the way through their 162-game regular season. They dropped to 9-15 and sit in last place in the AL East, six games behind the first-place Yankees.
"We still have so much time to just play baseball," Duran said. "And I feel like that's when we're at our best, is when we're just playing. We are really young and it's just getting through those bumps and bruises. I remember I took my bumps and bruises coming up playing in the big leagues. We've got some young guys that are in here for the first time and it's just one of those things. It's just baseball. We're going to get through it together."
Despite the struggles, Duran said he has "complete faith in this team."
"We've shown a lot of life before, and I know we can do it again," he said.
Advertisement
Duran said it's important for him and his teammates to win for the fans and that has led to them putting pressure on themselves.
"We're in Boston. It's a big market and we want to produce for the fans and produce for ourselves and for the team," Duran said. "The Red Sox have a big legacy that obviously like, even if you try not to put that pressure on you, it's there and it's just part of it. But we have a hard working team. I mean, it sucks you guys don't get to see what we do behind these walls every single day. But I know everybody's working. And I know people are going to say, 'Oh, you should work harder.' Well, we are.
"We're working hard as much as we can to make everybody proud," he added. "So sometimes we've just gotta stop trying to please everybody and make ourselves proud of ourselves. And I think that we're gonna do that."
Duran was not in the lineup for three of the previous four games. The left-handed hitter has struggled so much he even sat against right-handed starter Luis Gil on Tuesday . Wednesday marked just his second start against a left-handed pitcher this season.
Advertisement
His playing time has taken a significant hit so far this season. In 2024, he started 160 games and led the league with 735 plate appearances. He followed that with 696 plate appearances in 157 games in 2025.
"If I played 160 games or I played 50 games, whatever the team needs, I'm gonna do," he said. "I trust AC (manager Alex Cora). I trust what they're doing and if they're gonna have me come in and pinch hit and do that, I'm gonna do it the best of my ability. I've never been a guy that's gonna complain if I'm playing or not, and I never will be because I know how hard this game is, and I know how hard guys work to start. And if they're playing great, let's ride with them. And if I'm not, get me out of there. I know my role, and I'm always gonna be ready for the team."
He said not seeing live pitching every day can be tough.
"But I put in the work every single day," Duran said. "I get here early, put in the work, and I trust the work that I'm putting in to make sure I'm staying in rhythm."
Advertisement
He returned to his toe-tap Wednesday.
"It's just something that's always been there," Duran said. "It's just in the toolbox. If I ever am struggling, I can always go back to the toe tap. And that's always been something that I've been able to go to when I'm struggling. And I'm just trying to simplify things. I know the leg kick can get a lot, and in '24, it was really clicking. But that's the worst part about baseball — it could feel good one day and then terrible the next day. So I'm just trying to keep everything simple right now. And it worked today, so I'm just going to keep grinding on it."
More Red Sox coverage
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
