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Red Sox’ Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony combine for 3 long homers in USA-Mexico WBC showdown
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- Red Sox’ Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony combine for 3 long homers in USA-Mexico WBC showdown
Throughout spring training, the Red Sox have faced constant questions about where their power will come from this season. If the World Baseball Classic is any indication, Boston will be just fine.
Outfielders Jarren Duran and Roman Anthony combined for three homers in Monday’s USA-Mexico showdown in Houston , with Duran continuing his strong start to the tournament with two blasts off a left-handed pitcher. Both players left the yard in a 5-3 Team USA win in Pool B play.
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Anthony went first, taking launch against former Cardinals and Braves righty Jesús Cruz to give the Americans a big third-inning lead. Four batters after Aaron Judge opened the scoring with his second homer of the tournament, Anthony hit a slider 417 feet into the right field seats with an exit velocity of 105.5 mph.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, it was Duran’s turn. He hit his first of two homers off Cubs lefty Matt Boyd (a 2025 All-Star), launching a 105 mph, 364-ft. opposite-field blast in the sixth inning to make the score 5-1. Duran then led off the eighth with another shot off Boyd, going 374 feet (at 98.3 mph) to the pull side. Duran has now homered three times in two days after hitting one out in a 16-0 rout over Brazil on Sunday.
The two good results against Boyd continued an intriguing trend for Duran , who has had a series of good swings against left-handed pitchers since spring training opened. He won a couple battles against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman in intrasquad matchups in Fort Myers and homered off former teammate Chris Sale before leaving camp to join Team Mexico.
Duran and Anthony, who project to share left field and the designated hitter spot for Boston this year, also got a taste of going head-to-head against each other when Duran, playing right field, helped gun down Anthony at the plate on a 9-4-2 putout in which Anthony was out at home trying to score on a Brice Turang double.
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Red Sox righty Garrett Whitlock made his first appearance of the tournament and it was a successful one as he recorded the save for a scoreless ninth. Whitlock allowed a leadoff single to Joey Meneses , then struck out Alejandro Osuna and Julian Ornelas before getting Alek Thomas to ground out to end the game.
Other Red Sox performances Monday:
In Miami, Red Sox starter Brayan Bello looked strong in a five-inning start for the Dominican Republic, striking out seven Israel hitters and allowing one run (on one hit) in five innings . Wilyer Abreu had a sacrifice fly for Venezuela in its 4-0 win over Nicaragua and Nate Eaton went 1-for-5 for Great Britain against Brazil. For Puerto Rico, lefty reliever Jovani Morán threw two scoreless innings against Cuba in San Juan.
Boston has had standout performances all over the tournament. Duran (5-for-10, five RBIs) leads all players with three homers. Eaton is hitting .316 with an .895 OPS in 19 at-bats. Anthony is hitting .364 (4-for-11) with five RBIs, three runs and a 1.169 OPS in three games. For Japan, Masataka Yoshida has hit 5-for-10 with two doubles, six RBIs and a 1.783 OPS .
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Yoshida, the two Americans (Anthony and Whitlock), Morán and Ceddanne Rafaela (Netherlands) are among the Red Sox who will be in action Tuesday, when there are four total games.
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