A John Henry conversation and trade deadline talk<\/p>\n
On this perfect summer evening, the lively sellout Fenway Park crowd Saturday got their money’s worth.<\/p>\n
There was a Shohei Ohtani home run on the very first at-bat of the game, which allowed for the reintroduction of the underutilized term, ‘Big whoop’ by Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet, who surrendered a second first-inning homer to Teoscar Hernandez.<\/p>\n
“Get clipped on one middle-middle to the best hitter in the league. Big whoop,” Crochet said. “But then to give one up on the sweeper after not really establishing the four yet, that’s one that I regret a little bit.”<\/p>\n
\nShohei Ohtani turns around a Garrett Crochet fastball and starts this game with a homer \ud83d\ude24 pic.twitter.com\/zug4FCyYAQ<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 MLB (@MLB) July 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Crochet ultimately offered his excellence once again, highlighting his six innings by enacting revenge on Ohtani via a three-pitch fanning of the Dodgers’ designated hitter, while adding a bit of postgame press conference spice.<\/p>\n
“I made two bad pitches,” he said of the two-run first inning. “Been watching them on repeat too. FOX has played them 30 times;\u00a0you’d think that the Dodgers won tonight. But no, no, no real adjustment.”<\/p>\n
\nGarrett Crochet said he didn\u2019t make any real adjustments after his rough 1st inning, and was annoyed that the @MLBONFOX<\/a> broadcast kept replaying his \u201ctwo bad pitches\u201d from the 1st inning:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026FOX had played them 30 times. You\u2019d think that the Dodgers won tonight\u2026\u201d \ud83d\ude02@WEEI<\/a>\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/wcGE1x8i88<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Tom Carroll (@yaboiTCfresh) July 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There was the always welcome back-and-forth from fan bases.<\/p>\n
“That was, oof. That was Dodger Stadium-like, to be honest with you,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora of the Dodgers-induced early-game reactions.
“I have never seen so many people from the opposition in one ballpark. That was different. Credit to them. They have done an amazing job throughout the years of getting to October and making a habit of that. And their fan base, they travel well. But that was loud. That was very loud. I have never seen anything like that.”<\/p>\nThe evening even had the kind of punctuation script-writers would drool over, with the late-arriving Mookie Betts coming on to pinch-hit while representing the game-tying run with two outs in the ninth. The result? A called third strike, sending the Fenway faithful into a frenzy and the former Red Sox grimacing on his way back to the visitors’ dugout.<\/p>\n
“I had a pretty good idea he was going to come, that he was going to be part of this game,” said Cora of his former outfielder’s participation.<\/p>\n
And then there was one potent reminder in this Red Sox 4-2 win over the Dodgers.<\/p>\n
Jarren Duran’s value to this team is best represented by the outfielder remaining in this uniform, and not being used in a trade to plug other potential problematic roster spots.<\/p>\n
He had two triples, becoming the first Red Sox player to accomplish the feat since Betts did it back on July 13, 2018. There was also a double, allowing for his sixth career game of three or more extra-base hits. And since June 29, Duran now has a 1.053 OPS while hitting .292.<\/p>\n
It’s nights like this one that make one wonder how and why Duran ever finds himself in trade rumors at all.<\/p>\n
“I mean, personally, I don’t really look at that kind of stuff,” the outfielder said of scuttlebutt regarding the trade deadline. “I don’t have control. The players don’t really have control. It’s whatever they’re gonna do. We’re just gonna keep playing and play hard, and if they add, awesome. If they don’t, awesome. I mean, we love the team we have and we’re just gonna roll with what we got. I mean, there’s nothing we can control. We just gotta trust whatever they do is the best for the team.”<\/p>\n
He added regarding his own situation, “Honestly, that’s probably one of the things I actually don’t stress about. I have no control over it. If it happens, it happens. But I don’t have social media, like Twitter and stuff like that, so I never see any of that stuff. But my dad always keeps me on my toes and shoots one over to me every once in a while — like I’m not gonna tell him if it happens. He’s all like, ‘Did this really happen?’ I’m like, ‘Dad, you really don’t think I’m gonna tell you if it happens?’ I mean, it’s all just rumors anyway. If it happens, it happens, but it’s just all rumors for now, so I’m just gonna keep having fun with my boys.”<\/p>\n
While the thinking for some time was that the Red Sox would ultimately have to part ways with one of their outfielders due to the need to play Roman Anthony every day, along with the reintroduction of Masa Yoshida, that thinking heading into Thursday’s trade deadline might be shifting.<\/p>\n
Not only is Duran supplying the reminder that skill sets like his are something a contending team should prioritize, but there is also a sudden need for the Red Sox to protect themselves against any further roster thinness.<\/p>\n
Without Marcelo Mayer, Ceddanne Rafaela will be called on to play second base even more, necessitating all hands on deck to fill the other outfield spots, no matter what kind of pitcher is on the mound. And if something else happens to any of the outfielders, the Red Sox have suddenly found themselves short on backup plans.<\/p>\n
In other words, Duran is no longer a luxury item. He has seemingly become a necessity.<\/p>\n
“It has been challenging, in a sense,” Cora said of Duran’s season. “But he has 50 RBI, right, and 50 runs scored. He\u2019s stealing bases. He\u2019s not getting on base as high of a rate as last year, but he\u2019s leading the league in triples. Shoot, that\u2019s a solid season. He has set the bar very high. But throughout the last\u00a02 1\/2 years he has been an impactful player. He\u2019s kind of like I call it Theo-ball because Theo was a big part of what they tried to do with the game. Speed and power and defense. He\u2019s the total package. He impacts the game like not too many guys in this league. When he\u2019s going like this and he\u2019s calm and his thoughts are in the right place in the batter\u2019s box and he\u2019s hitting the ball all over the place, it\u2019s fun to watch.”<\/p>\n
Those exiting Fenway Park Saturday night would agree.<\/p>\n
\nJarren Duran spoke with @WillFlemming<\/a> and @MikeMonaco_<\/a> on his 2-triple night in the Red Sox 4-2 win over the Dodgers about quieting the Dodger-friendly part of Fenway and how he’s been handling the recent trade rumors.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images pic.twitter.com\/S9XprsRhBP<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 WEEI Red Sox Network (@SoxBooth) July 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n