Duran's 1st career walk-off caps furious rally at festive Fenway

BOSTON -- With members of the 2024 NBA champion Celtics in the house, Fenway Park had a playoff atmosphere before the first pitch was thrown in Monday’s series opener.

Riding a recent stretch in which they’d won seven of their last eight and moved to a season-high six games over .500, the Red Sox held a one-run lead over the Blue Jays, until a rough seventh inning threatened to spoil the night.

But with a cut on the videoboard to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy in the Celtics’ suite and a couple of back-and-forth switches by each team’s manager, Boston rallied to tie it in the eighth before Jarren Duran notched his first career walk-off to give the Red Sox a 7-6 win.

The atmosphere and dramatics were enough for manager Alex Cora to rank the victory at No. 1 this season. As for where it ranks for the game-winner?

“I mean, that was my first walk-off, so I’d have to put it at the top,” Duran said. “I just think that was a really good team win. We went down, and we fought back. We never gave up and that’s why I’m so proud of this team. We just did everything right today and just kept it really simple.”

His walk-off hit is the latest of many accolades that Duran has added to his resume in just the past few days. Earlier in the game, he extended his hit streak to a career-high 14 games with a fourth-inning single that marked Boston’s first hit off Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt. Over the weekend, Duran and David Hamilton became the first teammates to have 20-plus steals so far this season.

Before driving in the winning run, Duran helped set up the comeback with his speed in the eighth. On what should have been a pop up to Blue Jays third baseman Addison Barger, a miscommunication between Barger and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa resulted in the speedy Duran on second. Hamilton drove in Duran two pitches later with a no-doubter over the right-field wall.

With left-handed reliever Tim Mayza on the mound, Cora swapped out designated hitter Masataka Yoshida with Rob Refsnyder, who was promptly intentionally walked to load the bases. Cora again pulled a switch, pinch-hitting Romy Gonzalez for Dominic Smith. Blue Jays manager John Schneider made his own counter, bringing in right-hander Zach Pop to take over for Mayza.

Gonzalez responded by hitting Pop’s first pitch to left to score Rafael Devers and Tyler O’Neill and tie the game.

“We hit the ball hard, and like I said before the game: Now you gotta mix and match with us,” Cora said. “When you're gonna bring in the lefty, [that’s] the first time we hit for Masa, and we will do that, with the personnel that we got. Ref is one of the best against lefties. Romy can hit righties, so it was fun.”

In between flashes of Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, Derrick White and Jayson Tatum lifting the NBA Finals trophy on the video board, Boston continued its rally in the ninth. Ceddanne Rafaela reached on a fielding error before advancing to second on a balk and then coming around to score on Duran’s single.

By the time Rafaela scored, Fenway Park was still flush with a rowdy crowd. Despite their home team falling behind in a five-run seventh inning that began with a catcher’s interference and included a 471-foot Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homer, the fans -- and the Celtics -- stuck it out until the end.

“The intensity was awesome,” Duran said. “We went down and honestly didn't feel like they gave up on us, which was awesome. So it definitely helps when you’ve got the fans behind you, rooting for you, cheering for you, screaming. … And I'm thankful for these fans, man. They're amazing.”

After he hit Pop’s 95 mph sinker through the gap to right, Duran had first-base coach Andrew Fox in his ear yelling at him to round for second. When it became apparent that Rafaela had scored and ended the game, one of Duran’s first thoughts was, “Is that a double?”

“All jokes aside, man. It was a huge team win,” Duran said. “We can't just put it on the walk-off. We fought back, we were down four runs, came back, scored a bunch of runs. Pitching did really good today, Tanner [Houck] was an absolute stud. Honestly was just a complete team game and it just makes me so happy because of what we're doing as a team.”