Red Sox Rally To Beat Reds Jarren Duran Shines For The Sox

  

The Boston Red Sox evened the series with the Reds with a two-run rally in the eighth inning, coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win, 4-3.

Jarren Duran singled twice, robbed a home run and scored on a short foul fly ball that went just 224 feet to deal the Reds a blow.

"What a player huh? (Duran)," Alex Cora said. "In all aspects of the game, running, that's the most important thing. Now he knows what he needs to do on a daily basis to perform at this level. From the leadoff hit to the play at the end the tag at third base (the ball was 224 feet from home), that was a fun game to watch. It was a tough play because he (Fairchild) had to go full speed and he has to slow down. He was a little flat footed. If you see him flat footed, you got to go. We got to take chances. Athleticism wise we can steal a game."

The Reds were 31-1 when leading after six innings.

For the second time in the series, the Reds jumped on the Red Sox starter with two outs in the first inning.  Jeimer Candelario hit a hard grounder off starter, Nick Pivetta for an infield single. Spencer Steer launched his ninth home run into the second deck in left field to put the Reds up 2-0 after an inning. 

Elly De La Cruz hit his 13th home run in the third to extend the Reds' lead.

Dominic Smith hit his third home run of the season in the fifth to break the shutout against Frankie Montas.

The Red Sox got back-to-back doubles by Wilyer Abreu and Connor Wong, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games cut the lead to one run. 

The Reds ran themselves out of two scoring chances in the fifth and sixth. TJ Friedl was thrown out at the plate in the fifth. De La Cruz was picked off second to end the inning. Jake Fraley was tagged out on a swinging bunt off the bat of Nick Martini by catcher Wong.

Sam Moll replaced Montas, who pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk.

The Red Sox grabbed the lead against Justin Wilson. Ceddanne Rafaela hit an infield single that Candelario threw away to put the leadoff runner on second. Duran singled for the second time of the game. He extended his hitting streak to12 games. Pinch hitter Rob Refsnyder singled to tie the game. Duran scored on a foul sacrifice fly by Rafael Devers.

"I decided to go home right away on the sacrifice fly," Duran said. "Huddy (third base coach) was in my ear. We're going. We're going. We're going. I was fully committed to going home."

Kenley Janson came into the game in the ninth seeking his 14th save in 15 tries. Duran robbed Stuart Fairchild of a game-tying home run with one out. Friedl singled with two outs to bring up De La Cruz.

"I thought the ball (Fairchild hit) was way gone," Cora said. "I just kept saying, get down, get down, get down. Good for him (Duran) too. You move them around in the middle of the game it's not that easy."

Duran was humble as he described the catch and his contributions to the win.

"I'm just happy to be able to contribute to the team," Duran said. "Those plays happened to work out in my favor. I know he hit it pretty good. So I was making sure I could get back to the wall. I took a last minute glance to see where the ball was. I kind of broke down and was going to try to make a play on the ball. I just happened to make a play."

"I just hit it to the wrong part of the field," Fairchild said. "I was pretty stoked coming off the bat. I thought it had a chance and he made a great catch."

On the sacrifice fly he had a long way to go to make the catch.

"When I caught the ball, I looked up. I didn't have a good view of (catcher Luke) Maile. Candelario was right in my vision. I just threw it in the vicinity of home plate.

De La Cruz flied out to left to end the game.