Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4: The Jarren Duran Game, Dugey’s Dinger Downs Jays in Sweep

This team pushes you away and then pulls you right back.

The frustrating reality is this team isn’t destined to go much of anywhere this season, but sometimes they play just really good baseball. I’m not too hesitant to call this the Jarred Duran game, going 5-for-5 with four doubles and a check-swing single, scoring three runs, I’m remiss to think of why this wasn’t the perfect showcase of Duran’s skills.

Let’s not forget about Alex Verdugo too. He throws out Bo Bichette in the bottom of the third inning, despite his hit being a two-run single to give the Jays the lead. He steps up first pitch off the top of the 9th in a tie game, and he demolishes a ball into the right-field bleachers. Bat. Flip. Earned.

We all hope that Garrett Whitlock is alright after leaving the game tossing just one inning with right elbow tightness, but credit to Nick Pivetta for (for the most part) eating innings and keeping the Red Sox in this one.

With this win, the Red Sox are 7-0 against Toronto on the season and officially win the season series. That means in the event of a tiebreaker for standings, the Red Sox have the edge. That’s a surprisingly massive edge to have at the beginning of July. Maybe that makes them eager enough to stay in the race.

Regardless, a very nice weekend sweep, and a really important win today for the BoSox.

FanGraphs

Three Studs

Rafael Devers (.359 WPA, 3-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB)

See, Raffy? You don’t have to homer every single game to make a big impact! Two separate RBI singles, drawing walks late in the game, you even got your first stolen base of the season! Just make solid contact and good things will come.

Alex Verdugo (.312 WPA, 1-for-5, go-ahead HR)

Not only did he hit the go-ahead homer, not only did he throw someone out, he was the one whose groundout elicited the throwing error from Vlad Guerrero Jr. to bring Justin Turner home and tie the game up!

Jarren Duran (.277 WPA, 5-for-5, 4 doubles, 3 runs scored)

Some of Duran’s double had no business being doubles. A bullet up the middle that’s a single for 99% of the league he legs out. A bloop that’s a single for everyone but Duran turns into a double. It leads to runs on the board. He even legs out an infield single on a check-swing. This is the Jarren Duran that’s going to succeed in the Majors. What he did today is rare in franchise history too. Keep it up, JD.

Three Duds

Kiké Hernandez (-.264 WPA, 0-for-5, 3 Ks)

Kiké was once a good baseball player. This is just sad at this point.

Triston Casas (-.248 WPA, 0-for-5, 3 Ks)

Casas gets a break after a torrid June, he can have a cold day.

Connor Wong (-.211 WPA, 0-for-4, 3 Ks)

Striking out with the bases loaded in the 6th inning in a one-run game? Reprehensible. Considering Pivetta gave up a solo homer to Brandon Belt in the bottom of the inning, that could have been a back breaker. He’s lucky the team saved his bacon today.

Play of the Game

Are you kidding me? How is it anything else other than Dugey’s go-ahead solo shot in the 9th? A .343 WPA is astronomically game-changing.