The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox (2025) s01e04 Episode Script
Episode 4
1
[crowd chattering indistinctly]
[announcer] Good evening
and welcome to Fenway Park,
America's most beloved ballpark,
for tonight's game between
the Toronto Blue Jays
and your Boston Red Sox.
[man 1] Oh, awesome, man.
[Cora] Some Celtics are
here with their trophy,
so if you wanna say hi
to them… Yeah, yeah.
This is my nephew, Jay, and
my sister-in-law, Jasmine.
[indistinct chatter]
Not used to being the shortest guy in
the room, that's for sure. [chuckles]
It's crazy. [chuckles]
[Andrew] Fucking large humans.
Bro. Huge.
- [Duran] Jarren.
- Joe.
[Duran] Nice to meet
you. Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you.
- I like your shirt.
- [Duran] Thank you. It's kinda my motto.
I'm a Lakers fan at heart.
I'm from California, but it's awesome
to see the title come back to Boston.
- [Mazzulla] It is.
- [Duran] It's awesome.
[man 2] Hey, is this a
dent? Is that a dent? Whoo!
- [man 3] That's how you know it's been
- [Cora] Been around the world. [chuckles]
We got, like, the tiniest
taste of it in '21,
going to, like, the ALCS.
And it's just like, ever since then,
you're like, "I want more. I want more."
[Mazzulla] As soon as the bell went
off, I was like, "I want more."
[Garrett] Coming up here and seeing,
like, how this city rallies around,
like, championships, it's like…
- Dude.
- It's pretty sweet.
It's the best city in America
when it comes to sports.
- I mean, I'm biased, but…
- [Garrett] He's right.
[all laugh]
[man 4] Whoo!
[Sean] It used to be that
if you were a baseball
fan and a Red Sox fan,
you hung in there with them
through thick and thin.
I don't think that
happens as much anymore.
And I think part of it is
that this is a city that
has had so much success
with all four sports teams
that there are alternatives.
[man 5] The fans of New England have
been waiting 42 years for this day.
Everyone back in Boston, we're
bringing this sucker home!
[Sean] We've had six Patriots
Super Bowl championships.
[man 6] For the 17th time, a
record, your Boston Celtics.
[Sean] NBA championships.
- Anything's possible!
- [thrilling rock music plays]
[cheering]
[Sean] And a Stanley
Cup for the Bruins.
That's a lot of
success for one town,
and I think it fuels
the other teams.
[Garrett] We feed off y'all. We
feed off what the Bruins were doing.
I don't know if other cities do that, but
I feel like that's special about here.
We watch y'all, and it's just like,
dude, everything y'all are doing,
it's just like, "Man, can we do
that too? Can we do that too?"
There is some self-imposed pressure
to keep up with the Joneses in town.
That if the Celtics are gonna be
playing for titles, we need to too.
[music continues]
And it takes a
certain personality
to be able to not crack
under that pressure.
[electric guitar riffing]
[music fades out]
[crowd chatters]
[Joe] Good evening.
Welcome to Fenway Park.
The Red Sox play the
Toronto Blue Jays.
[Will] Red Sox, a season-high,
six games over .500 right now.
- A 7-1 in the last eight.
- [US anthem plays]
[Dave] And they are in possession of
the third and final wild card spot
in the American
League right now.
[man 1] Yeah, and you
look at their roster,
and you're like, "How? How…
how are they doing this?"
- Come on, kid.
- [Duran] Love you.
Keep going. Vamos.
- [crowd chant] Let's go, Red Sox!
- We got a game to play, boys! Come on!
- [crowd] Let's go, Red Sox!
- [Duran] Yeah, vamos, vamos!
- [crowd clapping in unison]
- [Duran] We got a game to play. Let's go!
[announcer] We now ask Joe Mazzulla,
Kristaps Porziņģis, Derrick White,
Al Horford, Jaylen
Brown, and Jayson Tatum
to step forward and deliver
tonight's ceremonial first pitch.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] There they are, your
2024 world champion Boston Celtics.
[crowd applauding]
[Dave] Alex Cora's feeling pretty
good about the Red Sox right now.
I don't think there's any question
that they have overachieved,
given the preseason expectations and
the number of injuries they've had,
and this is one of
the big reasons why.
Jarren Duran has turned himself
into one of the better
all-round players in baseball,
the way that he's
playing right now.
They will face Chris Bassitt,
who had a good start against
the Red Sox on Tuesday.
[Duran] What's up, boys?
- How you doing?
- [Duran] Good. Perfect.
I feel like it's kinda fallen
on me to… to be the leader.
I'll… I'll live and
die for my teammates.
Like, I'll do anything it
takes for my teammates.
Like, the team is more
important than one person.
I think that's something,
like, my dad instilled in me,
was not being a
cocky little shit.
[Heineman] Damn, Duran
has been on a fucking tear
since the last time I saw him.
Fucking 835 OPS. Last time I
saw him, he was fucking 750.
[Cora] Come on, see
it, kid. See it.
[Duran] I feel like, as a
leader, like, I get nervous,
'cause it's like, if I'm not doing
good, guys are gonna be like,
"Why would I listen to you?
You're not even doing that good."
So, like, once again, I'm picking out
the negatives to think about, but, um…
But, like, that's just how I am.
[Dave] Here's Duran.
He will take a called strike
on a 93-mile-an-hour fastball.
- Come on, JD!
- [Dave] Hitting almost .300.
He's got over 20 doubles. He's got
ten triples to lead the Majors.
He's up, uh, on the leaderboard
in stolen bases with 20.
[in Spanish] Whack that
damn sinker the other way.
[in English] Swing it!
[Dave] The 0-2 is a well-hit
ball to right field,
but back and into the alley is
George Springer to make the catch.
One down.
- [Duran] Fuck!
- [fans boo]
[Duran] I feel like people see
us as zoo animals sometimes.
- [tense music plays]
- [fans booing, jeering]
[man 2] You gotta wake up!
[Duran] 'Cause we're,
like, in this big old cage.
Like, people are trying to,
like, throw popcorn at you,
like, get a picture with you…
[indistinct shouting]
[Duran] …get your attention,
like, scream your name. Like…
- [tense music continues]
- [indistinct shouting]
[Duran] Sometimes some
fans take it too serious.
[boo echoes]
I feel they cross the line when they start
talking about, like, my mental health
and, like, making
fun of me for that,
calling me weak.
It just triggered me when you
started talking about mental health
'cause I was like,
"All right, like…"
I feel like that's
just, like, part of it,
is, like, that loneliness.
Like…
[muffled booing]
[Duran] …some people deal
with it better than others.
[pensive, ethereal music plays]
[music fades out]
[director] Do you ever read papers? Do
you ever read what's written about you?
[Duran] Nah.
I mean, my dad will shoot me a message
or something every once in a while.
But they can be hard.
That's just part of it.
I mean, that's what happens
when you play in Boston.
It's a very sports-loving place,
and they're… they're a winning city,
and they like to win, so they expect us
to play our hardest and best every day.
I remember when I
was going through it,
and, like, you start
losing a couple of games,
and, like, you're
not doing good,
like, it feels like the world's
kinda creeping in on you.
They love you one day,
and then the next day, they
gotta grind on you a little bit.
With me, it was always like, "Oh, okay."
Like, "I wanted to prove you wrong."
Like, "I wanted to be better than
what you're talking about me."
I feel like that comes
from a lot of stuff.
It's like I wanted to
make my dad proud of me.
[low, poignant music plays]
I remember, like, growing up,
my dad was always hard on me.
He'd always push me
to want to do better.
I was short. I was tiny. I was
like 5'4" going into high school,
like 100 pounds soaking wet.
I remember my dad used to yell at
me, like, "Why aren't you growing?"
I'm like, "I don't know.
That's not my fault."
But at the same
time, it was like,
"All right, I don't really
like when my dad yells at me."
My dad, he was always working,
always busy, but, like, always
trying to provide for us.
He always played sports,
and he was always, like,
pushing me to be better.
I didn't understand when I was younger.
I thought he was just being mean to me.
[Speier] His dad's like a…
a mountain of a human being.
There was this kind of dissonance
that people would experience
when they saw little Jarren
kind of trailing behind his dad,
and, uh, Jarren
described himself as…
He was like, "I get it. I'm
the runt of the litter."
His dad was a big part
of his coaching life.
There are these pictures
of the two of them holding this
giant trophy that's as big as Jarren.
[man] I coached him
since he was like five.
I was harder on Jarren
than any of the other kids.
I expected more from him.
'Cause he would tell his mom,
"Yeah, Dad's… is riding me. Why?"
And I'm like, "'Cause I want him to
be, you know… be something special."
[woman] Octavio was…
he was hard on Jarren.
And as a mom, we used to get in arguments
about that because that's my baby.
And, you know, "Don't treat my
baby that way," kind of thing.
But I think it made
Jarren who he is today.
[Duran] Yeah, it was
just, like, tough love.
Yeah, but I feel like everybody
has gone through that.
Especially, like, when
they expect you to do good,
they always wanna
be tough on you.
Like, there was a time where we were
taking BP down at the park by my house.
And I wasn't swinging the best,
so he threw… he was throwing
balls at me to hit me,
and be like, "Be better. Come on,"
and would peg me with the ball.
"You… you… you gotta do
better. Gotta do better."
"It's not good enough. Not good
enough. You gotta do better."
So that, to me, was, I think,
the tough love between us,
that I always expected
perfection from him.
[Duran] Of course, I was a
kid, so I was, like, crying.
I ran home, gave my mom the tea.
"Dad's throwing the
baseball at me." Like…
And so I went back to the park,
and my dad's just sitting there.
He looks at me, goes, "I knew
you were gonna come back."
I knew he'd come back
'cause he just didn't want to leave
on that note, like, "I failed."
Like, the audacity to just stay there
after you're hitting me with baseballs,
to think I was gonna come back.
But… honestly, I think, like,
just wanted to be better for him
was, like, a thing for me too.
'Cause he was always hard on me,
so I wanted to prove him wrong.
Like, "I can do this. I can do this,
Dad." Like, "Look at this." Like…
So I feel like that was something that
really drove me when I was younger.
- [crowd murmuring]
- [music fades out]
[fan shouts indistinctly]
[Will] Fourth inning already.
Toronto and the Sox, 0-0.
And up the middle for the very
first hit of the ballgame.
Great reception by the Celtics here
at Fenway tonight with the trophy.
- [Lou] Mm-hmm.
- [Will] Which was just awesome.
What's sort of amazing about
this run the Red Sox are on,
seven of eight, they've surged
into the third wild card.
And it's really great, I think, as
a region, as a city, and frankly,
for this Red Sox group to get the feeling
of a championship back in the building.
[McDonough] Gonna
bring up Justin Turner.
[Dave] Justin Turner,
the former Red Sock.
[crowd applauds]
[Will] Fans remember him fondly
for his one year in Boston.
[Heineman] Did you like, uh…
- Did you like Turner when he was here?
- He's awesome.
- [Heineman] He's awesome?
- Awesome.
- Good teammate, and he can hit.
- [Heineman] Yeah.
[Dave] And this one is lined
into left center for a base hit.
IKF around to score,
and the Turner RBI single
gives the Blue Jays the lead.
[melodic, expectant music plays]
[music fades]
[Duran] Oh, there's my ginger.
- Hey, bud.
- There he is.
[chuckles]
- Swing that thing last night, bro.
- Thanks, man.
- [sighs]
- [Justin] What's going on?
[Duran] Just grinding.
- How you doing?
- Good grinding, though.
Yeah.
It's always a grind.
[Duran] As soon as I met Justin,
I was like, "This guy's gonna
be a… a lifelong friend."
Like, he was definitely somebody
that when I was going through
some tough stuff mentally,
that I opened up to
and, like, talked to,
and he was there for me.
- How you doing?
- [Justin] Good.
- [Duran] Yeah?
- [Justin] Good.
[Duran] How's Mama?
- She's good, man. She's getting close.
- Yeah?
[Justin] You know, we kinda had a
little bit of a connection right away
because he's a SoCal guy,
and then, obviously, you're getting
to know him and talk to him,
and you start hearing about some
of the things he's going through,
and some of the things
he's been through.
Dealing with anxiety, dealing
with the pressure of this game.
- Yeah, we need this.
- [Duran] Yeah.
It's all yours, bro.
- Duran's too big. He needs all this space.
- Shut up.
- [man] He needs all that space?
- All that space for his biceps.
[chuckling]
How's this stuff
going? This stuff?
[chuckles]
[Duran] Yeah, they've
definitely gotten some stuff.
- Yeah?
- I remember one day, it was…
I can't remember where we were, but
I was getting into it with a fan.
- Just my usual.
- Oh, good.
I forgot I was miked up, and I was like,
"Yeah, they definitely got those bits."
[laughs]
[fan shouts indistinctly]
- [Duran] Fuck you, pussy.
- [Duran and Justin laugh]
[Justin] Oh man.
You have guys
dropping like flies.
That's tough to deal with.
Yeah, and then we got a bunch
of, like, young guys too,
like, still, like, taking
their bumps and bruises
and learning and
stuff like that.
- Kind of like how I had to go through.
- Yeah.
So, like, that was,
like, a big thing too.
[Justin] Funny hearing him
talk about the young guys.
He's technically a young guy,
but he's been through so much.
I think he's probably there for
a lot of these "younger guys"
to help them go through some… some
things that they're going through.
The swing looks good.
Probably because it
looks like me, but…
I feel, like, athletic,
which is, like…
What I really wanted to do is
just let my athleticism take over.
Right. I feel like you're driving balls
more to the pull side now than you were.
- Yeah.
- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- You're gonna have that in your pocket.
- Yeah.
- Always.
You just can't get too
far one way or the other.
[Duran] Mm-hmm.
Like, I feel like early
against us up in Toronto,
you were, like, trying to guide
stuff too much the other way.
Yeah.
Like, once you get back to
the middle of the field…
- Yeah. I agree.
- …it unlocks, you know?
What're you doing
for All-Star break?
- I don't know.
- Going to the All-Star game?
- [chuckles] I hope.
- I tried to plug for you last week.
I did a couple of interviews
with your guys and, like, Jahmai,
I'm like, "Dude… get out
there and vote, bro."
- [chuckles]
- "What's going on?" Like…
I'm in like 19th
in outfield voting.
- [Justin] You're in 19th?
- [Duran] Yeah.
- [Justin] Dougie's in front of you.
- Yeah.
- [Justin] Come on, bro.
- [Duran laughs]
- I miss you, man. I miss you a lot.
- I miss you too.
Keep going. Keep
doing your thing.
I'm in Kiké's old locker,
and every day after the game,
Rob sits there and gets
a little burby burbs.
- Yeah.
- Drinks his drink.
And we shoot the shit in that
corner. And we're like, "Damn."
All the time, we're like, "Dude, if
JT was here, we'd be chopping it up."
I just gave Alex three
bottles of tequila, so…
- Oh boy.
- I know you don't drink, but, um…
- We went to that
- Tell Rob to make sure he gets in there.
[Duran] I'll stick to my, uh, Coca-Cola
after the game. That'll be my bourbon.
Yeah. Your leg… Don't… don't…
don't be drinking, man.
- You… you run too hard for alcohol.
- [chuckles]
Save them hammies.
- All right. Good luck tonight, dude. Yeah.
- Thank you. You too.
[Will] Bottom half
of the fourth inning,
as we come to you from
the Monster's seats.
Toronto has grabbed a 1-0 lead.
And it'll be Duran at
the top of the order.
[Dave] Jarren Duran lined out
to right his first time up.
Lead-off hitter, some power, great
speed, looking like an all-star.
[Andrew] Plenty of time,
boys. Keep hitting it hard.
[Casas] Okay, I'm gonna guess one,
and then you're gonna guess one.
What do you think?
- I think… I think…
- [coach] Fastball.
- [Casas] Uh, I think slow.
- [Cora] Good take!
[Casas] I did think fast though.
I just wanted to agree with you.
Oh, let me guess. Good
spin, high. High fastball.
[Casas] Yeah?
- [coach] Oh.
- [Casas] Yeah. Yeah.
[Cora] Come on, JD!
[Andrew] Come on, JD!
[Duran] I'd say, like, when I
first started playing T-ball
is when I really, like, kind
of fell in love with this game.
I was always undersized,
so I guess baseball was
just that equalizer for me
as being, like, a smaller kid.
Like, I could compete
with these other kids,
and I didn't have to be
the biggest or strongest.
He's a big boy now, but growing up, he
was always the little guy, like I said,
so he always had to work extra
hard to compete with them.
[Dena] He had that, like, "I'm
a little guy" kind of mentality.
And that's been good for him
'cause he still had that
chip on his shoulder.
Even in college, he always
felt like he would be
up at 1:00 in the morning
at the cages hitting.
Crazy stuff like that, you
know, 'cause he felt like,
"Oh, somebody else is gonna be doing
this, so I need to be doing this."
[Duran] I played football all
the way up until high school.
I was always fast, I was
always, like, the quick kid,
but I was… I was
short, I was tiny.
I guess it was a blessing and a curse at
the time, to be smaller than everybody.
Like, it made me the competitor I am
now, always trying to work my hardest.
I was, like, one
of the better kids.
Then, going into my senior year,
I started getting looked at.
I think it's 'cause I
grew a little bit finally.
Long Beach State came to visit me,
and I was like, "I don't want to go."
"I don't think I'm good enough
to go visit that school." Like…
So, like, it's always been a thing for
me not, like, believing in myself. So…
But then I ended
up going, and then,
when I was in college, I just
continued to hit really good.
And I was like, "I've never
hit like this before."
Like, "This will come to an end."
Like, "Oh, this is a fluke. It'll end."
I mean, I was always the
person that was like,
"If I start talking good about myself,
then the game's gonna humble me,
and then I'm gonna start
playing like crap, and…"
But that's just how, like…
I'm just wired really weirdly.
That if I think positive about myself,
something negative is gonna happen.
I mean, it's an everyday battle
to, like, tell myself, like,
I should be proud of myself.
And I'm like, "Oh, this
is too good to be true."
Like, "Oh, this will
come to an end."
[Dave] And he's got a
base hit into center.
First hit of the
night for the Red Sox.
[Cora] Come on, Jarren.
[Lou] Duran hit hard,
found a hole up the middle.
- He's jumping! He's jumping!
- [Dave] Devers is next.
[Cora shouts in code]
[Heineman] Raffy, I don't
know if he knows what he does.
He just knows he's really
good. He sees the ball.
"I see ball. I hit
the ball hard."
- Oh yeah!
- [Dave] And this one, he got all of.
- [crowd cheering]
- [uplifting music playing]
- [cheering lifts]
- [man] Oh, he stood there the whole time.
[Dave] Like he had a feeling,
and he just hammered it.
- [commentator] This one was center cut.
- [Andrew] Fuck yeah!
- [commentator] That was a no-doubter.
- [Andrew] Yeah, yeah!
- Yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
- [players cheering]
[Andrew] Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah! Whoo!
Let's fucking go!
[reporter 1] Red Sox
select Jarren Duran
from Long Beach
State University.
They said at first, "Oh, he's gonna
go in the third or fourth round."
Well, those passed, and
it was the seventh round.
[reporter 2] He doesn't have a
lot of power, at least right now.
He's a guy that can stretch singles
into doubles and do that little stuff
that you're always looking for
out of a pick like right here.
He, again, felt like he
had to prove something.
[Speier] He showed up in the
Red Sox minor league system
and immediately started hitting triples
like nobody else has ever hit triples.
[commentator 1] Jarren
Duran is at third base.
[commentator 2] Wow. What speed. Man,
he was flying around those bases.
And it was like, "What on earth
is happening with this guy?"
Because he wasn't that
highly touted a draft pick,
and you're realizing
pretty quickly
that Jarren Duran is going to be
a really good major league player.
Coming into 2021, he's looking
like he may end up being
one of the best prospects
in… in all of baseball,
and he's hitting the ball
out of the park in Triple-A.
[commentator 3] Jarren Duran's
gonna watch this one go.
How about that? What a way to start.
First pitch. He tattooed that.
He's a seventh-round draft pick. Like,
you're not supposed to be that good.
You're supposed to be okay as
a seventh-round draft pick,
but now he's a top-20
prospect in all of baseball.
And he puts all this
pressure on himself.
And he's like, "I have to be the
next… you know, Mookie Betts."
My manager at the time, Billy
McMillon, calls me, and he goes, "Hey."
"You're gonna go to the big
leagues." And I was like, "What?"
[commentator 4] Well,
finally, the big league debut
for the 24-year-old
Jarren Duran.
[Barret] 2021, he comes up
in mid-July, Yankee Stadium.
Fans were behind me yelling, you
know, "Strike out the rookie!"
And I turned around and
I said, "That's my baby."
And they were like, "Oh, I'm sorry,
ma'am. Okay, he can get a hit." [chuckles]
[commentator 4] He
makes his debut,
and on the first pitch that
he sees as a big leaguer,
he rips a base hit into center.
His dad, Octavio, his mom, Dena,
other family members in attendance.
What a moment for Duran.
[Barret] He gets a hit off Gerrit Cole,
You think, "This is it. It's done."
Like, "Here he goes." And drafted.
You know, he was a second baseman.
He was a little skinny guy, and…
and he hit different, and, um…
the Red Sox said, "You
gotta go play outfield."
[Will] Duran all the way back,
still back, still back to the wall,
leaping, can't get it.
They drafted him with the
idea that they would be able
to stick him in the outfield and let
him run around a little bit more,
um, and also tap into a little
bit more of his athleticism.
But from an approach standpoint,
he… he probably wasn't ready.
[commentator 5] Mateo,
base hit right field.
Center ball, lollipop
throw from Duran.
[Duran] When I went to the outfield,
felt like a different planet.
In the infield, you're not
really seeing balls in the air.
But guys are hitting the ball 100-plus
miles an hour at you in the outfield,
and the ball can,
like, soar past you.
The wind, the dimensions, like, the
way the ball just flies over there,
like, I was just
very, like, raw.
He had a hard time adjusting because
he's never played the outfield.
He had to learn it
in the major leagues.
[Duran] Everything's more difficult
to do at the big league level.
You know, I just… I tried my best,
put my hand up, I had my glasses on,
tried to get the angle, but… I'm
just right in the middle of the sun.
You think that you're alone out
there when stuff like that happens.
[pensive music playing]
I remember when I first
started struggling,
I was like…
"Just send me back down."
It honestly felt like there
was, like, a dark cloud over me,
'cause it's so easy to look
past the positive things for me,
and then to grab onto
the negative things.
[Cora] He's a good kid
that has a good heart.
A few years ago, we were… we
needed to be very patient with him,
because he wasn't feeling
comfortable around this, right?
Around Red Sox Nation.
[Will] He appears to be going back
and forth with fans out there. He is.
I just think there's the
self-doubt and the, "Do I belong?"
"Am I really good enough to be
here?" "How did I get here?"
I think that's… He starts
thinking those thoughts.
[commentator 6] You're continuing to
work that young kid, Jarren Duren…
Duran, excuse me, out there.
Oh man.
He's having a rough afternoon.
He had all this baggage about
not wanting to be a failure.
[pensive music continues]
- [Dave] So 2-1 Red Sox, top of the fifth.
- [music fades out]
And it'll be Addison Barger, Davis
Schneider, and Alejandro Kirk.
Barger grounded out
his first time up.
[Duran] Come on, Tanner.
[Cora] Rip it.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Dave] Watched him a
lot in batting practice.
He was hitting a lot of
balls to left-center field.
[Cora] Attaboy! [clapping]
- Keep going!
- [Andrew] Come on, T. Come on, baby.
- [Cora] Ouch.
- [Will] That was swatted foul by Barger.
He's 0-1 with a tapper to third.
- [Andrew] Come on, Tanner.
- [Cora] You want him to swing.
[suspenseful music continues]
[Dave] To center
field, hit pretty well.
And back all the way, looping
up against the wall, and caught!
- What a great play out in center field…
- Yeah, Dory!
[Dave] …by Jarren Duran,
taking extra bases
away from Barger.
[Lou] What a play.
[Will] Outstanding play
by the man who oughta be
the American League
Player of the Week.
Are you serious with this guy,
Lou? It's every night now.
- Every night.
- [Lou] It is unbelievable.
[McDonough] One of the best
center fielders in the game,
Jarren Duran continues to do it.
[fans cheer, whistle]
[crowd] If they don't
win It's a shame ♪
For it's one, two Three
strikes, you're out at the… ♪
[Dave] Top of the seventh
already here in this one.
The Red Sox leading the Blue Jays
2-1, and how about Tanner Houck?
He gets so deep into the
game every single time out.
Come on, Tanner.
[Will] Now this is Barger, 0-2. He's
grounded out, and he's flied out.
And pretty much swings out
of his shoes every time.
[Lou] Big boy.
Come on, Tanner!
- [Will] Houck throws his 90th pitch.
- [Cora] Cuidado!
And a slider scatters
the Red Sox dugout.
[Andrew] Whoo! Holy fuckballs.
That's a large
man that hit that.
Come on, Tanner!
Come on, T. Come on,
baby. Triage yourself.
[Will] So 3-2.
- [commentator] Oh, catcher's interference.
- [Andrew] What?
- [Heineman] Interference.
- [Will] Gonna send him to first.
- [Lou] You could hear that one.
- [Will] Mm-hmm.
[Lou] Barger's bat hitting
the glove of McGuire.
[Tanner muttering angrily]
- Should be out.
- [Andrew] Goddamn it, man.
[Will] So on catcher's
interference,
they've got a base runner
to begin the seventh.
[Cora] Oh shit.
What the fuck are we
playing? God damn it.
[Andrew] Come on, Tanner.
- [player] Come on, T. Come on.
- His slide is flat right now.
[Dave] Pitch number 100 coming
up now for Tanner Houck.
Right-hander Isaiah Campbell
is now up in the bullpen.
[commentator] He's got a great… I
mean, that is a great Fu Manchu.
[Cora] Come on, Tanner.
Come on, kid. Make a pitch.
[Andrew] Ground ball
right here. Let's go.
[Will] Kiermaier, the batter.
[Cora] Come on, Tanner.
Come on, Tanner.
[Dave] And this time, he lines
it up the middle, a base hit.
And Barger is going to come in
to score, and this game is tied.
[crowd cheering]
[tense music plays]
[Will] And here
comes the manager.
And he has had Campbell
going in the pen.
[Andrew] I don't know if he's
gonna go or not. Yeah, he's going.
[Will] And the night is over for
the Red Sox staff ace, Tanner Houck.
Attaboy. Way to throw the
ball. Way to throw the ball.
Fucking bitch.
[Cora] Hey, kid, welcome
back. Do your thing.
Make sure you slow him
down at first, okay?
Let's go. Do your
thing. Let's go.
[Dave] So the Blue Jays have tied it,
and Alex Cora has gone to his bullpen
for right-hander
Isaiah Campbell.
First batter he'll face
tonight is Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
- [Cora] Come on, kid. Make a pitch.
- [Andrew] Come on. Make a fucking pitch.
[Cora] Ah.
[Dave] Softly hit to the right side
from shallow right, a high throw.
Kiner-Falefa is safe, and
Kiermaier will come to third.
[Will] And a little
looper on the infield,
and Toronto catching a
break, first and third.
- [Tanner groans]
- [downcast music plays]
[Dave] And it's runners on
the corners with two down.
[Cora] Come on. Vamos, vamos.
Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
[Will] So first and
third for Guerrero.
- [Dave] And Vladi launches one.
- [crowd cheers]
Deep left field and gone.
[Red Sox fans booing]
[Dave] It disappears
into the Boston night.
A booming three-run homer
for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
[Blue Jays fans cheering]
[Will] And Toronto grabs a 6-2
lead here in the seventh inning,
as this one came
apart in a hurry.
[Duran] This game's gonna
humble everybody at some point.
This game is just too hard
not to humble somebody.
I started thinking
about when I debuted…
[Will] And it brings up
the rookie, Jarren Duran.
Swing and a miss, strike three.
[Duran] …and, like, how I felt like
I was just on a fricking island
all by myself, and the world was
falling apart beneath my feet.
[woman] Duran's so fast
if he can get on base,
but it seems like it's
been a struggle lately.
[Sean] This is a draining game.
It demands a lot of you mentally.
Jarren has been so consumed
with not letting people down,
whether it be the
team that drafted him
or his family.
That can be a lot to deal with,
no matter how much raw physical
talent and tools you have.
[commentator 1] Duran
trying to locate it.
[commentator 2] Duran has
no idea where this ball is.
- None whatsoever.
- [commentator 1] Wow.
I missed a fly ball
in center field.
'Cause I lost it in the twilight,
and it landed behind me.
[commentator 1]
Tapia to the plate.
And it is a grand slam
inside the park. Wow.
[Bill Burr] Hey, what's going on?
This is Bill Burr. I'm at Fenway Park,
where you hit
inside-the-park home runs
'cause people lose
it in the lights.
[Duran] I didn't even wanna turn
around. I was afraid to look at fans.
When failure occurred for
him in the big leagues,
he didn't have that solid foundation
to know, like, "This is okay."
"It's okay to struggle. I'm
going to work through that."
I remember, like, being at the
stadium and hearing my name called,
and they would boo.
I'm like, "Damn."
Or I'd go to, like, center
field, they'd be like,
"You don't belong here.
Go back to Triple-A."
At Fenway.
They didn't know how
hard I was trying.
[Dena] You know, New York,
Boston, LA, it's like,
"Bring in the next guy."
"Okay, this guy's not
doing it. Get rid of him."
They don't think
of them as people
and how hard they've worked
to get where they're at.
And they were just like,
"He sucks. He sucks."
You know, and he had to be in the outfield
listening to them yell behind him,
"You suck, Jarren."
- [crowd chants] You suck!
- [fans shouting]
- [crowd] You suck!
- [man shouting angrily]
[voice breaking] As a mom,
it's just like every at-bat is,
"Oh, please, God, let him get a hit."
"Please, God, let him catch that ball."
It's torture.
[commentator 2] It's a tough one
today. Look at him. He's not happy.
He's jawing with a fan up there.
You know, he's letting
the game get to him.
[Barret] To feel it from the fans
and, like, to feel it on social media
and in the crowd, and then
he goes home to an apartment…
You know, he's alone.
He's… There's no family
here. There's no girlfriend.
There's no wife. There's no
fian… You know, there's no kids.
It's just him and his thoughts,
and that's a… you know…
At the time, it was
a scary place to be.
But if Jarren Duran misplays a
ball in the sun, and you're like,
"Hey, Duran, catch the next one,"
and he turns around, "I'll kill ya!"
Like, this… this
guy, he's lost it.
- He has.
- He's absolutely lost it.
[Duran] And I would think every day,
like, "I can't fucking do this."
I couldn't deal with… telling myself
how much I sucked every fucking day.
Like, I was already
hearing it from fans.
And, like, what they say to me,
it's like, I haven't told myself ten
times worse than that in the mirror.
[bat thuds]
That was, like, a really,
uh, tough time for me.
Yeah.
[man 1] Jarren Duran, who's proving
to be one of the worst fielders
in the entire game right now.
You're Jarren Duran. You
kind of just suck in the MLB.
Like, I'm sorry to say it.
[man 2] This is just another
classic case of a prospect coming up
and not meeting expectations.
You wanna help this ball club,
Duran needs to go back to
Triple-A and figure himself out.
[Duran] It was a pretty low time for me.
Like, I didn't even wanna be here anymore.
But, um…
[director] When you say "here,"
you mean here with the Red
Sox or here on planet earth?
Um…
Probably both. Yeah.
Probably both. That was, like,
a really, uh, tough time for me.
Yeah.
I got to the point where
I was sitting in my room.
I had my, um… my rifle,
and I had a bullet, and…
I pulled the trigger and the gun
clicked, but nothing happened.
So… to this day, like, I think
God just didn't let
me take my own life,
because I seriously don't know,
like, why it didn't go off.
But I took it
as a sign of, like, "All right, I
might have to be here for a reason."
So then that's when I started
to look myself in the mirror.
After the gun didn't go off, I was
like, "All right, well, like, let's…"
I was like, "Do I wanna be here,
or do I not wanna be here?"
Like, I looked myself in
the mirror, and I was like,
"That happened for
a reason. Like…"
"Obviously, you're fucking
here for a reason."
"So, like, let's fucking…"
"Let's fucking be the way you wanna
be. Let's play the way you wanna play."
"And let's, you know, just
live the way I wanna live."
[director] Have you talked about
this with people you're close to?
Like, for instance,
your dad or your mom?
[breathes deeply]
I don't think I've told them
the full extent like that.
I know eventually I need to sit down
with them and tell them the whole story.
It's just… it's scary
to me because I don't…
I hate putting my parents
through stuff like that.
It's hard to see them get
upset when I tell them,
and it just makes me
feel like a bad person.
I don't wanna burden other
people with my problems.
[director] A heavy
burden to carry.
Yeah. God gave me a good back, so I'm
carrying it pretty well. [chuckles]
["Wave of Mutilation"
by Pixies plays]
[man] Morning. Welcome
back to the Fenway Rundown.
We're gonna get into
Jarren Duran opening up on the mental
toll of struggling in the majors.
You know, he… he opened up.
And we talked about all the
different things he's been through,
you know, in the last
couple of months.
You know, some of the quotes,
"I've been pretty low this year."
"It's been a struggle
to stay here."
"I try so hard to
please everybody
so when I hear people bad-mouthing
me and they're home fans,
I take it to heart."
"I just ask for forgiveness whenever
I don't do what they ask me to do."
"I'm trying my best, and I
just hope they know that."
I just wanna commend Jarren
Duran on speaking up.
It's not an easy thing to do,
and, um, wish him the best.
Cease to resist,
giving my goodbye… ♪
[Duran] On my left wrist,
I write "fuck 'em,"
'cause it's me telling my
demons, like, "Fuck you."
Like, "You're not
gonna faze me."
And then, on my right wrist,
I write "still alive,"
'cause I'm still here,
and I'm still fighting.
You'll think I'm
dead, but I sail away ♪
Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
We're gonna win this, boys.
Here we go. Come on. Come on.
On a wave of mutilation… ♪
- Please, God.
- [Will] Toronto has the 6-2 lead.
Getting late.
- [Cora] Go, boys.
- [Andrew] Come on.
[Will] Red Sox in real need
of an answer here from Duran.
Wave… ♪
[Will] He'll get
another pop-up here.
Berger and Kiner-Falefa
will not make the play.
- And Duran is gonna get to second.
- [crowd cheers]
He was running
hard the whole way.
[Lou] That's exactly why you
hustle every single time.
[Cora] That's how you play
the game. Just like that.
- Fucking pop-up double.
- Double.
This is where it
gets interesting.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Dave] David Hamilton,
the batter, 0-3.
[Cora] Fling it!
- [Red Sox players] Oh!
- [Dave] And he hit right. Well hit.
- And it is gone.
- [crowd cheers]
[Cora] Let's go!
[Dave] And just like that,
it is a two-run game.
[fans cheering, whistling]
[Cora] Let's go, baby. Way
to fucking play the game.
[Andrew] Hell yeah, hell yeah.
- [Heineman] Needed that? You deserve that.
- [Duran chuckles]
You fucking deserve that.
That's for damn sure.
[Dave] So Nate Pearson, out of the
game, gives up the two-run homer.
It is 6-4 with two outs
and the bases empty.
[Will] And here comes Mazza
to take on Rafael Devers.
Red Sox with a two-run homer from
David Hamilton to jump back in it…
- [Cora] Swing it!
- [Andrew] Swing that shit.
[Dave] And softly hit
into center, a base hit.
- [rousing music plays]
- [Andrew] Let's go, TO.
[Dave] O'Neill is going to
come up as the tying run.
[Lou] This is the
matchup you did not want.
The always dangerous
Tyler O'Neill.
[commentator] You got a big boy up
here with 15 homers, got full power,
and this could be scary.
[Will] Into center field. On
the approach, here's Kiermaier.
- He can't get it.
- [Cora] Hey!
- [crowd cheering]
- [Will] Devers taking off for third.
He'll stop there.
O'Neill into second.
[Cora] Yes!
[Will] Kiermaier did not make the
play, and the Red Sox are in business.
Second and third with two down.
[Dave] And it's the noisiest it's
been all night here at Fenway.
[Will] With two down at the
bottom of the eighth inning,
the Celtics remaining
on hand to watch.
And that'll bring
on Romy González.
- Swinging at the first pitch.
- [cheering erupts]
He lines it into the outfield.
- One run is in. Two runs are in.
- [fan cheering]
- [Andrew] Let's fucking go!
- [Will] This game is tied.
- [raucous cheering]
- [overlapping indistinct shouting]
[Will] Oh, this
place is rocking.
[Lou] Rocking right now.
[cheering fades]
[director] His mental health struggles,
when did you first learn about them?
[Octavio] Probably when he
had that really bad season.
[director] Did he talk to
you about his depression?
No, not really. He just
doesn't really… bring that up.
I don't… I don't push him to it,
and he just doesn't bring it up.
[director] Do you wish he would?
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
For sure.
This was new to us and… scary.
And you don't want your child to
feel that way, to feel not worthy,
to feel like they
shouldn't be here.
But I'm proud of how
he's reacted to it.
[poignant music plays]
He's hitting it head on.
That's how he does things
though. Always has.
[Barret] Early on, he wasn't
opening up, and it was tough for me,
tough for his parents, and it's like,
"What do we do? How do we help him?"
And since then, he's
started journaling
and really doing, like,
just self-examination
to say, like, "This is
not the end all, be all."
That is what really has brought him to,
like, not live and die on this field
and what happens tonight,
tomorrow, or last night.
[Duran] I used to, like,
ramble and just write,
but now I've prioritized
my journaling
to figure out, like,
why I feel certain ways.
This book talks about, like,
affirmations, and this one's a good one.
It goes, "I am worthy of success
and celebrate my achievements,
no matter how small."
[director] Do you
have any regrets?
Is there anything you would
do differently with him?
I should've separated
baseball and the personal
when it came to
our relationship.
And that was my fault,
and I… now I see that.
[Speier] He got to
a healthier place
with regards to his balance,
uh, between baseball and life,
and his production followed.
- Attaboy, Dory! Fuck!
- Let's go, kid!
I had a breakout year last year.
- [crowd cheers]
- [Will] And it's off the pole and gone.
Jarren Duran with a home run.
Going into the season
of '23, I was like,
"All right… I'm gonna do
what I want for my swing."
I just know what
makes me better.
[Speier] By the time
he came around in 2023,
he had first become more
open about discussing
the kind of internal
struggles he had faced.
He also was able to recalibrate
a little bit, I think,
when he played for Team Mexico
in the World Baseball Classic.
[uplifting music plays]
[Duran] That was some of the
funnest baseball I've played.
Just baseball lovers playing against
other baseball lovers, and it was sick.
- [crowd cheers]
- [commentator] Duran scores!
[Duran] I got to act
like a little kid.
Just every base hit,
I got to jump out of the dugout
like it was Game 7 World Series,
and with a sombrero on to add.
- [music fades]
- [cheering subsides, fades out]
Taking joy in competing,
um, maybe tapped into
something for Jarren Duran.
[Will] This is one of those
special Fenway nights,
and the Red Sox have the
Celtics on their feet.
Joe Mazzulla had the O'Brien
Trophy held up above his head,
trying to will these
Sox to a magical win.
- [Cora] Let's go. Let's go.
- [Andrew] Hell yeah. Let's go, boys!
[Will] And we're all locked up, 6-6,
bottom of the ninth, and here we go.
The speed guys coming
up for the Red Sox,
Rafaela, Duran, and Hamilton.
Three of the fastest guys
in the American League.
[Andrew] Oh, I would
fucking love it.
[Will] Rafaela bunts at
it, and it's strike one.
- Stay humble. Here we go!
- [Will] Duran on deck.
Swing and a ground ball up the
middle to the second baseman. Gloves.
- [Cora] Yeah!
- [Dave] He can't make the play!
- [crowd cheers]
- [Will] Rafaela beats it out.
And the Red Sox have the winning
run aboard to begin the ninth.
- [Rafaela] Nice.
- [Will] That speed is just a killer.
Fucking beautiful.
- [suspenseful music plays]
- [fans whistle]
[Will] But here's the
Red Sox's hottest hitter
with a chance to win the game.
[umpire] That's a balk!
[Will] Pitch to him is…
That's a balk!
- A balk? Is that a balk? Yes, it is!
- [players] Yeah!
- Let's go!
- [Andrew] He's fucking rattled!
He shit-fucked it!
[Lou] You know what? The
clock was running down.
[Will] So he had to hurry.
[Lou] He started, tried to hurry,
and he never came to a stop.
[Will] And the Red Sox have
the winning run at second base
here in the ninth inning,
on a balk after an error.
- [cheering, clapping]
- [whistle blows]
[in Spanish] Let him bat.
[suspenseful music continues]
[commentator in English] This is
who I want up in this situation.
If they're gonna challenge him and
go after him, this might sting 'em.
[Andrew] You gotta
walk him, right?
[in Spanish] Let him
bat. Let him bat.
[in English] Attaboy!
[crowd clapping]
[tense electronic music plays]
Rock it in the gap.
Rock it in the gap.
[Will] 1-1, the pitch is high.
Hamilton, who gave the Red Sox
the two-run homer in the eighth,
he's on deck.
[Cora in Spanish]
If it's a walk,
get to Hamilton quickly,
and tell him to hit it
so the pitcher can field it.
Okay? To the right
of the pitcher.
- [tense music continues]
- [fans cheering]
[Dave in English] The Red Sox
threatening to walk it off.
- ["Wave of Mutilation" by Pixies plays]
- That's it. That's a base hit!
Here comes Rafaela rounding,
trying to score, the ball home.
- And he wins it!
- [cheering erupts]
[Duran] Let's go!
Ball game over! Duran, the hero!
[players cheering]
[Will] Jarren Duran, his first
career walk-off for the Sox.
They're in the win column.
Cease to resist,
giving my goodbye ♪
Drive my car… ♪
- [Ramón] Let's fucking go! Vamos!
- Into the ocean… ♪
[in English] Fuck yeah, JD.
Fuck yeah, baby. You're the man.
- [overlapping jubilant chatter]
- On a wave of mutilation… ♪
- [crowd cheering]
- Wave of mutilation ♪
Wave of mutilation ♪
Wave… ♪
- [Duran] Whoo!
- That's cold.
- I don't know what it comes from…
- [music fades]
…but I just never feel
like I'm that good.
I don't know. It's just like these
inner demons that don't let me
love myself or wanna
be proud of myself.
That's still something
I'm working on.
You were great.
Absolutely great.
And the play? How's your back?
- Dude, I feel like up here…
- You gotta be scratched up.
- [woman] Can we have your autograph?
- [Barret] That was a great play.
Every once in a while, I'll catch
myself being proud of myself,
and I'm like, "Damn.
This is a good feeling."
- I'll let you know. See you, man.
- [Duran] Love you. Thank you.
[Barret chuckles]
So proud of you.
Yeah. Couple more coming.
- Yeah.
- [Barret chuckles]
[boy 1] Duran, please!
I gotta go. I'm sorry.
[boy 2] You're the
best player in the MLB.
[Barret chuckles]
But the demons always come back
and… and bring me back to earth,
so that's still
something I'm working on.
[reflective blues
guitar music plays]
[music continues]
[music fades out]
[earth skitters]
[child giggles]
- [gull calling]
- [waves lapping]
[clicking]
- [commentator] Number 23.
- [crowd cheers]
[strings stab]
[cheering fades]
[crowd chattering indistinctly]
[announcer] Good evening
and welcome to Fenway Park,
America's most beloved ballpark,
for tonight's game between
the Toronto Blue Jays
and your Boston Red Sox.
[man 1] Oh, awesome, man.
[Cora] Some Celtics are
here with their trophy,
so if you wanna say hi
to them… Yeah, yeah.
This is my nephew, Jay, and
my sister-in-law, Jasmine.
[indistinct chatter]
Not used to being the shortest guy in
the room, that's for sure. [chuckles]
It's crazy. [chuckles]
[Andrew] Fucking large humans.
Bro. Huge.
- [Duran] Jarren.
- Joe.
[Duran] Nice to meet
you. Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you.
- I like your shirt.
- [Duran] Thank you. It's kinda my motto.
I'm a Lakers fan at heart.
I'm from California, but it's awesome
to see the title come back to Boston.
- [Mazzulla] It is.
- [Duran] It's awesome.
[man 2] Hey, is this a
dent? Is that a dent? Whoo!
- [man 3] That's how you know it's been
- [Cora] Been around the world. [chuckles]
We got, like, the tiniest
taste of it in '21,
going to, like, the ALCS.
And it's just like, ever since then,
you're like, "I want more. I want more."
[Mazzulla] As soon as the bell went
off, I was like, "I want more."
[Garrett] Coming up here and seeing,
like, how this city rallies around,
like, championships, it's like…
- Dude.
- It's pretty sweet.
It's the best city in America
when it comes to sports.
- I mean, I'm biased, but…
- [Garrett] He's right.
[all laugh]
[man 4] Whoo!
[Sean] It used to be that
if you were a baseball
fan and a Red Sox fan,
you hung in there with them
through thick and thin.
I don't think that
happens as much anymore.
And I think part of it is
that this is a city that
has had so much success
with all four sports teams
that there are alternatives.
[man 5] The fans of New England have
been waiting 42 years for this day.
Everyone back in Boston, we're
bringing this sucker home!
[Sean] We've had six Patriots
Super Bowl championships.
[man 6] For the 17th time, a
record, your Boston Celtics.
[Sean] NBA championships.
- Anything's possible!
- [thrilling rock music plays]
[cheering]
[Sean] And a Stanley
Cup for the Bruins.
That's a lot of
success for one town,
and I think it fuels
the other teams.
[Garrett] We feed off y'all. We
feed off what the Bruins were doing.
I don't know if other cities do that, but
I feel like that's special about here.
We watch y'all, and it's just like,
dude, everything y'all are doing,
it's just like, "Man, can we do
that too? Can we do that too?"
There is some self-imposed pressure
to keep up with the Joneses in town.
That if the Celtics are gonna be
playing for titles, we need to too.
[music continues]
And it takes a
certain personality
to be able to not crack
under that pressure.
[electric guitar riffing]
[music fades out]
[crowd chatters]
[Joe] Good evening.
Welcome to Fenway Park.
The Red Sox play the
Toronto Blue Jays.
[Will] Red Sox, a season-high,
six games over .500 right now.
- A 7-1 in the last eight.
- [US anthem plays]
[Dave] And they are in possession of
the third and final wild card spot
in the American
League right now.
[man 1] Yeah, and you
look at their roster,
and you're like, "How? How…
how are they doing this?"
- Come on, kid.
- [Duran] Love you.
Keep going. Vamos.
- [crowd chant] Let's go, Red Sox!
- We got a game to play, boys! Come on!
- [crowd] Let's go, Red Sox!
- [Duran] Yeah, vamos, vamos!
- [crowd clapping in unison]
- [Duran] We got a game to play. Let's go!
[announcer] We now ask Joe Mazzulla,
Kristaps Porziņģis, Derrick White,
Al Horford, Jaylen
Brown, and Jayson Tatum
to step forward and deliver
tonight's ceremonial first pitch.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] There they are, your
2024 world champion Boston Celtics.
[crowd applauding]
[Dave] Alex Cora's feeling pretty
good about the Red Sox right now.
I don't think there's any question
that they have overachieved,
given the preseason expectations and
the number of injuries they've had,
and this is one of
the big reasons why.
Jarren Duran has turned himself
into one of the better
all-round players in baseball,
the way that he's
playing right now.
They will face Chris Bassitt,
who had a good start against
the Red Sox on Tuesday.
[Duran] What's up, boys?
- How you doing?
- [Duran] Good. Perfect.
I feel like it's kinda fallen
on me to… to be the leader.
I'll… I'll live and
die for my teammates.
Like, I'll do anything it
takes for my teammates.
Like, the team is more
important than one person.
I think that's something,
like, my dad instilled in me,
was not being a
cocky little shit.
[Heineman] Damn, Duran
has been on a fucking tear
since the last time I saw him.
Fucking 835 OPS. Last time I
saw him, he was fucking 750.
[Cora] Come on, see
it, kid. See it.
[Duran] I feel like, as a
leader, like, I get nervous,
'cause it's like, if I'm not doing
good, guys are gonna be like,
"Why would I listen to you?
You're not even doing that good."
So, like, once again, I'm picking out
the negatives to think about, but, um…
But, like, that's just how I am.
[Dave] Here's Duran.
He will take a called strike
on a 93-mile-an-hour fastball.
- Come on, JD!
- [Dave] Hitting almost .300.
He's got over 20 doubles. He's got
ten triples to lead the Majors.
He's up, uh, on the leaderboard
in stolen bases with 20.
[in Spanish] Whack that
damn sinker the other way.
[in English] Swing it!
[Dave] The 0-2 is a well-hit
ball to right field,
but back and into the alley is
George Springer to make the catch.
One down.
- [Duran] Fuck!
- [fans boo]
[Duran] I feel like people see
us as zoo animals sometimes.
- [tense music plays]
- [fans booing, jeering]
[man 2] You gotta wake up!
[Duran] 'Cause we're,
like, in this big old cage.
Like, people are trying to,
like, throw popcorn at you,
like, get a picture with you…
[indistinct shouting]
[Duran] …get your attention,
like, scream your name. Like…
- [tense music continues]
- [indistinct shouting]
[Duran] Sometimes some
fans take it too serious.
[boo echoes]
I feel they cross the line when they start
talking about, like, my mental health
and, like, making
fun of me for that,
calling me weak.
It just triggered me when you
started talking about mental health
'cause I was like,
"All right, like…"
I feel like that's
just, like, part of it,
is, like, that loneliness.
Like…
[muffled booing]
[Duran] …some people deal
with it better than others.
[pensive, ethereal music plays]
[music fades out]
[director] Do you ever read papers? Do
you ever read what's written about you?
[Duran] Nah.
I mean, my dad will shoot me a message
or something every once in a while.
But they can be hard.
That's just part of it.
I mean, that's what happens
when you play in Boston.
It's a very sports-loving place,
and they're… they're a winning city,
and they like to win, so they expect us
to play our hardest and best every day.
I remember when I
was going through it,
and, like, you start
losing a couple of games,
and, like, you're
not doing good,
like, it feels like the world's
kinda creeping in on you.
They love you one day,
and then the next day, they
gotta grind on you a little bit.
With me, it was always like, "Oh, okay."
Like, "I wanted to prove you wrong."
Like, "I wanted to be better than
what you're talking about me."
I feel like that comes
from a lot of stuff.
It's like I wanted to
make my dad proud of me.
[low, poignant music plays]
I remember, like, growing up,
my dad was always hard on me.
He'd always push me
to want to do better.
I was short. I was tiny. I was
like 5'4" going into high school,
like 100 pounds soaking wet.
I remember my dad used to yell at
me, like, "Why aren't you growing?"
I'm like, "I don't know.
That's not my fault."
But at the same
time, it was like,
"All right, I don't really
like when my dad yells at me."
My dad, he was always working,
always busy, but, like, always
trying to provide for us.
He always played sports,
and he was always, like,
pushing me to be better.
I didn't understand when I was younger.
I thought he was just being mean to me.
[Speier] His dad's like a…
a mountain of a human being.
There was this kind of dissonance
that people would experience
when they saw little Jarren
kind of trailing behind his dad,
and, uh, Jarren
described himself as…
He was like, "I get it. I'm
the runt of the litter."
His dad was a big part
of his coaching life.
There are these pictures
of the two of them holding this
giant trophy that's as big as Jarren.
[man] I coached him
since he was like five.
I was harder on Jarren
than any of the other kids.
I expected more from him.
'Cause he would tell his mom,
"Yeah, Dad's… is riding me. Why?"
And I'm like, "'Cause I want him to
be, you know… be something special."
[woman] Octavio was…
he was hard on Jarren.
And as a mom, we used to get in arguments
about that because that's my baby.
And, you know, "Don't treat my
baby that way," kind of thing.
But I think it made
Jarren who he is today.
[Duran] Yeah, it was
just, like, tough love.
Yeah, but I feel like everybody
has gone through that.
Especially, like, when
they expect you to do good,
they always wanna
be tough on you.
Like, there was a time where we were
taking BP down at the park by my house.
And I wasn't swinging the best,
so he threw… he was throwing
balls at me to hit me,
and be like, "Be better. Come on,"
and would peg me with the ball.
"You… you… you gotta do
better. Gotta do better."
"It's not good enough. Not good
enough. You gotta do better."
So that, to me, was, I think,
the tough love between us,
that I always expected
perfection from him.
[Duran] Of course, I was a
kid, so I was, like, crying.
I ran home, gave my mom the tea.
"Dad's throwing the
baseball at me." Like…
And so I went back to the park,
and my dad's just sitting there.
He looks at me, goes, "I knew
you were gonna come back."
I knew he'd come back
'cause he just didn't want to leave
on that note, like, "I failed."
Like, the audacity to just stay there
after you're hitting me with baseballs,
to think I was gonna come back.
But… honestly, I think, like,
just wanted to be better for him
was, like, a thing for me too.
'Cause he was always hard on me,
so I wanted to prove him wrong.
Like, "I can do this. I can do this,
Dad." Like, "Look at this." Like…
So I feel like that was something that
really drove me when I was younger.
- [crowd murmuring]
- [music fades out]
[fan shouts indistinctly]
[Will] Fourth inning already.
Toronto and the Sox, 0-0.
And up the middle for the very
first hit of the ballgame.
Great reception by the Celtics here
at Fenway tonight with the trophy.
- [Lou] Mm-hmm.
- [Will] Which was just awesome.
What's sort of amazing about
this run the Red Sox are on,
seven of eight, they've surged
into the third wild card.
And it's really great, I think, as
a region, as a city, and frankly,
for this Red Sox group to get the feeling
of a championship back in the building.
[McDonough] Gonna
bring up Justin Turner.
[Dave] Justin Turner,
the former Red Sock.
[crowd applauds]
[Will] Fans remember him fondly
for his one year in Boston.
[Heineman] Did you like, uh…
- Did you like Turner when he was here?
- He's awesome.
- [Heineman] He's awesome?
- Awesome.
- Good teammate, and he can hit.
- [Heineman] Yeah.
[Dave] And this one is lined
into left center for a base hit.
IKF around to score,
and the Turner RBI single
gives the Blue Jays the lead.
[melodic, expectant music plays]
[music fades]
[Duran] Oh, there's my ginger.
- Hey, bud.
- There he is.
[chuckles]
- Swing that thing last night, bro.
- Thanks, man.
- [sighs]
- [Justin] What's going on?
[Duran] Just grinding.
- How you doing?
- Good grinding, though.
Yeah.
It's always a grind.
[Duran] As soon as I met Justin,
I was like, "This guy's gonna
be a… a lifelong friend."
Like, he was definitely somebody
that when I was going through
some tough stuff mentally,
that I opened up to
and, like, talked to,
and he was there for me.
- How you doing?
- [Justin] Good.
- [Duran] Yeah?
- [Justin] Good.
[Duran] How's Mama?
- She's good, man. She's getting close.
- Yeah?
[Justin] You know, we kinda had a
little bit of a connection right away
because he's a SoCal guy,
and then, obviously, you're getting
to know him and talk to him,
and you start hearing about some
of the things he's going through,
and some of the things
he's been through.
Dealing with anxiety, dealing
with the pressure of this game.
- Yeah, we need this.
- [Duran] Yeah.
It's all yours, bro.
- Duran's too big. He needs all this space.
- Shut up.
- [man] He needs all that space?
- All that space for his biceps.
[chuckling]
How's this stuff
going? This stuff?
[chuckles]
[Duran] Yeah, they've
definitely gotten some stuff.
- Yeah?
- I remember one day, it was…
I can't remember where we were, but
I was getting into it with a fan.
- Just my usual.
- Oh, good.
I forgot I was miked up, and I was like,
"Yeah, they definitely got those bits."
[laughs]
[fan shouts indistinctly]
- [Duran] Fuck you, pussy.
- [Duran and Justin laugh]
[Justin] Oh man.
You have guys
dropping like flies.
That's tough to deal with.
Yeah, and then we got a bunch
of, like, young guys too,
like, still, like, taking
their bumps and bruises
and learning and
stuff like that.
- Kind of like how I had to go through.
- Yeah.
So, like, that was,
like, a big thing too.
[Justin] Funny hearing him
talk about the young guys.
He's technically a young guy,
but he's been through so much.
I think he's probably there for
a lot of these "younger guys"
to help them go through some… some
things that they're going through.
The swing looks good.
Probably because it
looks like me, but…
I feel, like, athletic,
which is, like…
What I really wanted to do is
just let my athleticism take over.
Right. I feel like you're driving balls
more to the pull side now than you were.
- Yeah.
- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- You're gonna have that in your pocket.
- Yeah.
- Always.
You just can't get too
far one way or the other.
[Duran] Mm-hmm.
Like, I feel like early
against us up in Toronto,
you were, like, trying to guide
stuff too much the other way.
Yeah.
Like, once you get back to
the middle of the field…
- Yeah. I agree.
- …it unlocks, you know?
What're you doing
for All-Star break?
- I don't know.
- Going to the All-Star game?
- [chuckles] I hope.
- I tried to plug for you last week.
I did a couple of interviews
with your guys and, like, Jahmai,
I'm like, "Dude… get out
there and vote, bro."
- [chuckles]
- "What's going on?" Like…
I'm in like 19th
in outfield voting.
- [Justin] You're in 19th?
- [Duran] Yeah.
- [Justin] Dougie's in front of you.
- Yeah.
- [Justin] Come on, bro.
- [Duran laughs]
- I miss you, man. I miss you a lot.
- I miss you too.
Keep going. Keep
doing your thing.
I'm in Kiké's old locker,
and every day after the game,
Rob sits there and gets
a little burby burbs.
- Yeah.
- Drinks his drink.
And we shoot the shit in that
corner. And we're like, "Damn."
All the time, we're like, "Dude, if
JT was here, we'd be chopping it up."
I just gave Alex three
bottles of tequila, so…
- Oh boy.
- I know you don't drink, but, um…
- We went to that
- Tell Rob to make sure he gets in there.
[Duran] I'll stick to my, uh, Coca-Cola
after the game. That'll be my bourbon.
Yeah. Your leg… Don't… don't…
don't be drinking, man.
- You… you run too hard for alcohol.
- [chuckles]
Save them hammies.
- All right. Good luck tonight, dude. Yeah.
- Thank you. You too.
[Will] Bottom half
of the fourth inning,
as we come to you from
the Monster's seats.
Toronto has grabbed a 1-0 lead.
And it'll be Duran at
the top of the order.
[Dave] Jarren Duran lined out
to right his first time up.
Lead-off hitter, some power, great
speed, looking like an all-star.
[Andrew] Plenty of time,
boys. Keep hitting it hard.
[Casas] Okay, I'm gonna guess one,
and then you're gonna guess one.
What do you think?
- I think… I think…
- [coach] Fastball.
- [Casas] Uh, I think slow.
- [Cora] Good take!
[Casas] I did think fast though.
I just wanted to agree with you.
Oh, let me guess. Good
spin, high. High fastball.
[Casas] Yeah?
- [coach] Oh.
- [Casas] Yeah. Yeah.
[Cora] Come on, JD!
[Andrew] Come on, JD!
[Duran] I'd say, like, when I
first started playing T-ball
is when I really, like, kind
of fell in love with this game.
I was always undersized,
so I guess baseball was
just that equalizer for me
as being, like, a smaller kid.
Like, I could compete
with these other kids,
and I didn't have to be
the biggest or strongest.
He's a big boy now, but growing up, he
was always the little guy, like I said,
so he always had to work extra
hard to compete with them.
[Dena] He had that, like, "I'm
a little guy" kind of mentality.
And that's been good for him
'cause he still had that
chip on his shoulder.
Even in college, he always
felt like he would be
up at 1:00 in the morning
at the cages hitting.
Crazy stuff like that, you
know, 'cause he felt like,
"Oh, somebody else is gonna be doing
this, so I need to be doing this."
[Duran] I played football all
the way up until high school.
I was always fast, I was
always, like, the quick kid,
but I was… I was
short, I was tiny.
I guess it was a blessing and a curse at
the time, to be smaller than everybody.
Like, it made me the competitor I am
now, always trying to work my hardest.
I was, like, one
of the better kids.
Then, going into my senior year,
I started getting looked at.
I think it's 'cause I
grew a little bit finally.
Long Beach State came to visit me,
and I was like, "I don't want to go."
"I don't think I'm good enough
to go visit that school." Like…
So, like, it's always been a thing for
me not, like, believing in myself. So…
But then I ended
up going, and then,
when I was in college, I just
continued to hit really good.
And I was like, "I've never
hit like this before."
Like, "This will come to an end."
Like, "Oh, this is a fluke. It'll end."
I mean, I was always the
person that was like,
"If I start talking good about myself,
then the game's gonna humble me,
and then I'm gonna start
playing like crap, and…"
But that's just how, like…
I'm just wired really weirdly.
That if I think positive about myself,
something negative is gonna happen.
I mean, it's an everyday battle
to, like, tell myself, like,
I should be proud of myself.
And I'm like, "Oh, this
is too good to be true."
Like, "Oh, this will
come to an end."
[Dave] And he's got a
base hit into center.
First hit of the
night for the Red Sox.
[Cora] Come on, Jarren.
[Lou] Duran hit hard,
found a hole up the middle.
- He's jumping! He's jumping!
- [Dave] Devers is next.
[Cora shouts in code]
[Heineman] Raffy, I don't
know if he knows what he does.
He just knows he's really
good. He sees the ball.
"I see ball. I hit
the ball hard."
- Oh yeah!
- [Dave] And this one, he got all of.
- [crowd cheering]
- [uplifting music playing]
- [cheering lifts]
- [man] Oh, he stood there the whole time.
[Dave] Like he had a feeling,
and he just hammered it.
- [commentator] This one was center cut.
- [Andrew] Fuck yeah!
- [commentator] That was a no-doubter.
- [Andrew] Yeah, yeah!
- Yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
- [players cheering]
[Andrew] Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah! Whoo!
Let's fucking go!
[reporter 1] Red Sox
select Jarren Duran
from Long Beach
State University.
They said at first, "Oh, he's gonna
go in the third or fourth round."
Well, those passed, and
it was the seventh round.
[reporter 2] He doesn't have a
lot of power, at least right now.
He's a guy that can stretch singles
into doubles and do that little stuff
that you're always looking for
out of a pick like right here.
He, again, felt like he
had to prove something.
[Speier] He showed up in the
Red Sox minor league system
and immediately started hitting triples
like nobody else has ever hit triples.
[commentator 1] Jarren
Duran is at third base.
[commentator 2] Wow. What speed. Man,
he was flying around those bases.
And it was like, "What on earth
is happening with this guy?"
Because he wasn't that
highly touted a draft pick,
and you're realizing
pretty quickly
that Jarren Duran is going to be
a really good major league player.
Coming into 2021, he's looking
like he may end up being
one of the best prospects
in… in all of baseball,
and he's hitting the ball
out of the park in Triple-A.
[commentator 3] Jarren Duran's
gonna watch this one go.
How about that? What a way to start.
First pitch. He tattooed that.
He's a seventh-round draft pick. Like,
you're not supposed to be that good.
You're supposed to be okay as
a seventh-round draft pick,
but now he's a top-20
prospect in all of baseball.
And he puts all this
pressure on himself.
And he's like, "I have to be the
next… you know, Mookie Betts."
My manager at the time, Billy
McMillon, calls me, and he goes, "Hey."
"You're gonna go to the big
leagues." And I was like, "What?"
[commentator 4] Well,
finally, the big league debut
for the 24-year-old
Jarren Duran.
[Barret] 2021, he comes up
in mid-July, Yankee Stadium.
Fans were behind me yelling, you
know, "Strike out the rookie!"
And I turned around and
I said, "That's my baby."
And they were like, "Oh, I'm sorry,
ma'am. Okay, he can get a hit." [chuckles]
[commentator 4] He
makes his debut,
and on the first pitch that
he sees as a big leaguer,
he rips a base hit into center.
His dad, Octavio, his mom, Dena,
other family members in attendance.
What a moment for Duran.
[Barret] He gets a hit off Gerrit Cole,
You think, "This is it. It's done."
Like, "Here he goes." And drafted.
You know, he was a second baseman.
He was a little skinny guy, and…
and he hit different, and, um…
the Red Sox said, "You
gotta go play outfield."
[Will] Duran all the way back,
still back, still back to the wall,
leaping, can't get it.
They drafted him with the
idea that they would be able
to stick him in the outfield and let
him run around a little bit more,
um, and also tap into a little
bit more of his athleticism.
But from an approach standpoint,
he… he probably wasn't ready.
[commentator 5] Mateo,
base hit right field.
Center ball, lollipop
throw from Duran.
[Duran] When I went to the outfield,
felt like a different planet.
In the infield, you're not
really seeing balls in the air.
But guys are hitting the ball 100-plus
miles an hour at you in the outfield,
and the ball can,
like, soar past you.
The wind, the dimensions, like, the
way the ball just flies over there,
like, I was just
very, like, raw.
He had a hard time adjusting because
he's never played the outfield.
He had to learn it
in the major leagues.
[Duran] Everything's more difficult
to do at the big league level.
You know, I just… I tried my best,
put my hand up, I had my glasses on,
tried to get the angle, but… I'm
just right in the middle of the sun.
You think that you're alone out
there when stuff like that happens.
[pensive music playing]
I remember when I first
started struggling,
I was like…
"Just send me back down."
It honestly felt like there
was, like, a dark cloud over me,
'cause it's so easy to look
past the positive things for me,
and then to grab onto
the negative things.
[Cora] He's a good kid
that has a good heart.
A few years ago, we were… we
needed to be very patient with him,
because he wasn't feeling
comfortable around this, right?
Around Red Sox Nation.
[Will] He appears to be going back
and forth with fans out there. He is.
I just think there's the
self-doubt and the, "Do I belong?"
"Am I really good enough to be
here?" "How did I get here?"
I think that's… He starts
thinking those thoughts.
[commentator 6] You're continuing to
work that young kid, Jarren Duren…
Duran, excuse me, out there.
Oh man.
He's having a rough afternoon.
He had all this baggage about
not wanting to be a failure.
[pensive music continues]
- [Dave] So 2-1 Red Sox, top of the fifth.
- [music fades out]
And it'll be Addison Barger, Davis
Schneider, and Alejandro Kirk.
Barger grounded out
his first time up.
[Duran] Come on, Tanner.
[Cora] Rip it.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Dave] Watched him a
lot in batting practice.
He was hitting a lot of
balls to left-center field.
[Cora] Attaboy! [clapping]
- Keep going!
- [Andrew] Come on, T. Come on, baby.
- [Cora] Ouch.
- [Will] That was swatted foul by Barger.
He's 0-1 with a tapper to third.
- [Andrew] Come on, Tanner.
- [Cora] You want him to swing.
[suspenseful music continues]
[Dave] To center
field, hit pretty well.
And back all the way, looping
up against the wall, and caught!
- What a great play out in center field…
- Yeah, Dory!
[Dave] …by Jarren Duran,
taking extra bases
away from Barger.
[Lou] What a play.
[Will] Outstanding play
by the man who oughta be
the American League
Player of the Week.
Are you serious with this guy,
Lou? It's every night now.
- Every night.
- [Lou] It is unbelievable.
[McDonough] One of the best
center fielders in the game,
Jarren Duran continues to do it.
[fans cheer, whistle]
[crowd] If they don't
win It's a shame ♪
For it's one, two Three
strikes, you're out at the… ♪
[Dave] Top of the seventh
already here in this one.
The Red Sox leading the Blue Jays
2-1, and how about Tanner Houck?
He gets so deep into the
game every single time out.
Come on, Tanner.
[Will] Now this is Barger, 0-2. He's
grounded out, and he's flied out.
And pretty much swings out
of his shoes every time.
[Lou] Big boy.
Come on, Tanner!
- [Will] Houck throws his 90th pitch.
- [Cora] Cuidado!
And a slider scatters
the Red Sox dugout.
[Andrew] Whoo! Holy fuckballs.
That's a large
man that hit that.
Come on, Tanner!
Come on, T. Come on,
baby. Triage yourself.
[Will] So 3-2.
- [commentator] Oh, catcher's interference.
- [Andrew] What?
- [Heineman] Interference.
- [Will] Gonna send him to first.
- [Lou] You could hear that one.
- [Will] Mm-hmm.
[Lou] Barger's bat hitting
the glove of McGuire.
[Tanner muttering angrily]
- Should be out.
- [Andrew] Goddamn it, man.
[Will] So on catcher's
interference,
they've got a base runner
to begin the seventh.
[Cora] Oh shit.
What the fuck are we
playing? God damn it.
[Andrew] Come on, Tanner.
- [player] Come on, T. Come on.
- His slide is flat right now.
[Dave] Pitch number 100 coming
up now for Tanner Houck.
Right-hander Isaiah Campbell
is now up in the bullpen.
[commentator] He's got a great… I
mean, that is a great Fu Manchu.
[Cora] Come on, Tanner.
Come on, kid. Make a pitch.
[Andrew] Ground ball
right here. Let's go.
[Will] Kiermaier, the batter.
[Cora] Come on, Tanner.
Come on, Tanner.
[Dave] And this time, he lines
it up the middle, a base hit.
And Barger is going to come in
to score, and this game is tied.
[crowd cheering]
[tense music plays]
[Will] And here
comes the manager.
And he has had Campbell
going in the pen.
[Andrew] I don't know if he's
gonna go or not. Yeah, he's going.
[Will] And the night is over for
the Red Sox staff ace, Tanner Houck.
Attaboy. Way to throw the
ball. Way to throw the ball.
Fucking bitch.
[Cora] Hey, kid, welcome
back. Do your thing.
Make sure you slow him
down at first, okay?
Let's go. Do your
thing. Let's go.
[Dave] So the Blue Jays have tied it,
and Alex Cora has gone to his bullpen
for right-hander
Isaiah Campbell.
First batter he'll face
tonight is Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
- [Cora] Come on, kid. Make a pitch.
- [Andrew] Come on. Make a fucking pitch.
[Cora] Ah.
[Dave] Softly hit to the right side
from shallow right, a high throw.
Kiner-Falefa is safe, and
Kiermaier will come to third.
[Will] And a little
looper on the infield,
and Toronto catching a
break, first and third.
- [Tanner groans]
- [downcast music plays]
[Dave] And it's runners on
the corners with two down.
[Cora] Come on. Vamos, vamos.
Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
[Will] So first and
third for Guerrero.
- [Dave] And Vladi launches one.
- [crowd cheers]
Deep left field and gone.
[Red Sox fans booing]
[Dave] It disappears
into the Boston night.
A booming three-run homer
for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
[Blue Jays fans cheering]
[Will] And Toronto grabs a 6-2
lead here in the seventh inning,
as this one came
apart in a hurry.
[Duran] This game's gonna
humble everybody at some point.
This game is just too hard
not to humble somebody.
I started thinking
about when I debuted…
[Will] And it brings up
the rookie, Jarren Duran.
Swing and a miss, strike three.
[Duran] …and, like, how I felt like
I was just on a fricking island
all by myself, and the world was
falling apart beneath my feet.
[woman] Duran's so fast
if he can get on base,
but it seems like it's
been a struggle lately.
[Sean] This is a draining game.
It demands a lot of you mentally.
Jarren has been so consumed
with not letting people down,
whether it be the
team that drafted him
or his family.
That can be a lot to deal with,
no matter how much raw physical
talent and tools you have.
[commentator 1] Duran
trying to locate it.
[commentator 2] Duran has
no idea where this ball is.
- None whatsoever.
- [commentator 1] Wow.
I missed a fly ball
in center field.
'Cause I lost it in the twilight,
and it landed behind me.
[commentator 1]
Tapia to the plate.
And it is a grand slam
inside the park. Wow.
[Bill Burr] Hey, what's going on?
This is Bill Burr. I'm at Fenway Park,
where you hit
inside-the-park home runs
'cause people lose
it in the lights.
[Duran] I didn't even wanna turn
around. I was afraid to look at fans.
When failure occurred for
him in the big leagues,
he didn't have that solid foundation
to know, like, "This is okay."
"It's okay to struggle. I'm
going to work through that."
I remember, like, being at the
stadium and hearing my name called,
and they would boo.
I'm like, "Damn."
Or I'd go to, like, center
field, they'd be like,
"You don't belong here.
Go back to Triple-A."
At Fenway.
They didn't know how
hard I was trying.
[Dena] You know, New York,
Boston, LA, it's like,
"Bring in the next guy."
"Okay, this guy's not
doing it. Get rid of him."
They don't think
of them as people
and how hard they've worked
to get where they're at.
And they were just like,
"He sucks. He sucks."
You know, and he had to be in the outfield
listening to them yell behind him,
"You suck, Jarren."
- [crowd chants] You suck!
- [fans shouting]
- [crowd] You suck!
- [man shouting angrily]
[voice breaking] As a mom,
it's just like every at-bat is,
"Oh, please, God, let him get a hit."
"Please, God, let him catch that ball."
It's torture.
[commentator 2] It's a tough one
today. Look at him. He's not happy.
He's jawing with a fan up there.
You know, he's letting
the game get to him.
[Barret] To feel it from the fans
and, like, to feel it on social media
and in the crowd, and then
he goes home to an apartment…
You know, he's alone.
He's… There's no family
here. There's no girlfriend.
There's no wife. There's no
fian… You know, there's no kids.
It's just him and his thoughts,
and that's a… you know…
At the time, it was
a scary place to be.
But if Jarren Duran misplays a
ball in the sun, and you're like,
"Hey, Duran, catch the next one,"
and he turns around, "I'll kill ya!"
Like, this… this
guy, he's lost it.
- He has.
- He's absolutely lost it.
[Duran] And I would think every day,
like, "I can't fucking do this."
I couldn't deal with… telling myself
how much I sucked every fucking day.
Like, I was already
hearing it from fans.
And, like, what they say to me,
it's like, I haven't told myself ten
times worse than that in the mirror.
[bat thuds]
That was, like, a really,
uh, tough time for me.
Yeah.
[man 1] Jarren Duran, who's proving
to be one of the worst fielders
in the entire game right now.
You're Jarren Duran. You
kind of just suck in the MLB.
Like, I'm sorry to say it.
[man 2] This is just another
classic case of a prospect coming up
and not meeting expectations.
You wanna help this ball club,
Duran needs to go back to
Triple-A and figure himself out.
[Duran] It was a pretty low time for me.
Like, I didn't even wanna be here anymore.
But, um…
[director] When you say "here,"
you mean here with the Red
Sox or here on planet earth?
Um…
Probably both. Yeah.
Probably both. That was, like,
a really, uh, tough time for me.
Yeah.
I got to the point where
I was sitting in my room.
I had my, um… my rifle,
and I had a bullet, and…
I pulled the trigger and the gun
clicked, but nothing happened.
So… to this day, like, I think
God just didn't let
me take my own life,
because I seriously don't know,
like, why it didn't go off.
But I took it
as a sign of, like, "All right, I
might have to be here for a reason."
So then that's when I started
to look myself in the mirror.
After the gun didn't go off, I was
like, "All right, well, like, let's…"
I was like, "Do I wanna be here,
or do I not wanna be here?"
Like, I looked myself in
the mirror, and I was like,
"That happened for
a reason. Like…"
"Obviously, you're fucking
here for a reason."
"So, like, let's fucking…"
"Let's fucking be the way you wanna
be. Let's play the way you wanna play."
"And let's, you know, just
live the way I wanna live."
[director] Have you talked about
this with people you're close to?
Like, for instance,
your dad or your mom?
[breathes deeply]
I don't think I've told them
the full extent like that.
I know eventually I need to sit down
with them and tell them the whole story.
It's just… it's scary
to me because I don't…
I hate putting my parents
through stuff like that.
It's hard to see them get
upset when I tell them,
and it just makes me
feel like a bad person.
I don't wanna burden other
people with my problems.
[director] A heavy
burden to carry.
Yeah. God gave me a good back, so I'm
carrying it pretty well. [chuckles]
["Wave of Mutilation"
by Pixies plays]
[man] Morning. Welcome
back to the Fenway Rundown.
We're gonna get into
Jarren Duran opening up on the mental
toll of struggling in the majors.
You know, he… he opened up.
And we talked about all the
different things he's been through,
you know, in the last
couple of months.
You know, some of the quotes,
"I've been pretty low this year."
"It's been a struggle
to stay here."
"I try so hard to
please everybody
so when I hear people bad-mouthing
me and they're home fans,
I take it to heart."
"I just ask for forgiveness whenever
I don't do what they ask me to do."
"I'm trying my best, and I
just hope they know that."
I just wanna commend Jarren
Duran on speaking up.
It's not an easy thing to do,
and, um, wish him the best.
Cease to resist,
giving my goodbye… ♪
[Duran] On my left wrist,
I write "fuck 'em,"
'cause it's me telling my
demons, like, "Fuck you."
Like, "You're not
gonna faze me."
And then, on my right wrist,
I write "still alive,"
'cause I'm still here,
and I'm still fighting.
You'll think I'm
dead, but I sail away ♪
Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
We're gonna win this, boys.
Here we go. Come on. Come on.
On a wave of mutilation… ♪
- Please, God.
- [Will] Toronto has the 6-2 lead.
Getting late.
- [Cora] Go, boys.
- [Andrew] Come on.
[Will] Red Sox in real need
of an answer here from Duran.
Wave… ♪
[Will] He'll get
another pop-up here.
Berger and Kiner-Falefa
will not make the play.
- And Duran is gonna get to second.
- [crowd cheers]
He was running
hard the whole way.
[Lou] That's exactly why you
hustle every single time.
[Cora] That's how you play
the game. Just like that.
- Fucking pop-up double.
- Double.
This is where it
gets interesting.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Dave] David Hamilton,
the batter, 0-3.
[Cora] Fling it!
- [Red Sox players] Oh!
- [Dave] And he hit right. Well hit.
- And it is gone.
- [crowd cheers]
[Cora] Let's go!
[Dave] And just like that,
it is a two-run game.
[fans cheering, whistling]
[Cora] Let's go, baby. Way
to fucking play the game.
[Andrew] Hell yeah, hell yeah.
- [Heineman] Needed that? You deserve that.
- [Duran chuckles]
You fucking deserve that.
That's for damn sure.
[Dave] So Nate Pearson, out of the
game, gives up the two-run homer.
It is 6-4 with two outs
and the bases empty.
[Will] And here comes Mazza
to take on Rafael Devers.
Red Sox with a two-run homer from
David Hamilton to jump back in it…
- [Cora] Swing it!
- [Andrew] Swing that shit.
[Dave] And softly hit
into center, a base hit.
- [rousing music plays]
- [Andrew] Let's go, TO.
[Dave] O'Neill is going to
come up as the tying run.
[Lou] This is the
matchup you did not want.
The always dangerous
Tyler O'Neill.
[commentator] You got a big boy up
here with 15 homers, got full power,
and this could be scary.
[Will] Into center field. On
the approach, here's Kiermaier.
- He can't get it.
- [Cora] Hey!
- [crowd cheering]
- [Will] Devers taking off for third.
He'll stop there.
O'Neill into second.
[Cora] Yes!
[Will] Kiermaier did not make the
play, and the Red Sox are in business.
Second and third with two down.
[Dave] And it's the noisiest it's
been all night here at Fenway.
[Will] With two down at the
bottom of the eighth inning,
the Celtics remaining
on hand to watch.
And that'll bring
on Romy González.
- Swinging at the first pitch.
- [cheering erupts]
He lines it into the outfield.
- One run is in. Two runs are in.
- [fan cheering]
- [Andrew] Let's fucking go!
- [Will] This game is tied.
- [raucous cheering]
- [overlapping indistinct shouting]
[Will] Oh, this
place is rocking.
[Lou] Rocking right now.
[cheering fades]
[director] His mental health struggles,
when did you first learn about them?
[Octavio] Probably when he
had that really bad season.
[director] Did he talk to
you about his depression?
No, not really. He just
doesn't really… bring that up.
I don't… I don't push him to it,
and he just doesn't bring it up.
[director] Do you wish he would?
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
For sure.
This was new to us and… scary.
And you don't want your child to
feel that way, to feel not worthy,
to feel like they
shouldn't be here.
But I'm proud of how
he's reacted to it.
[poignant music plays]
He's hitting it head on.
That's how he does things
though. Always has.
[Barret] Early on, he wasn't
opening up, and it was tough for me,
tough for his parents, and it's like,
"What do we do? How do we help him?"
And since then, he's
started journaling
and really doing, like,
just self-examination
to say, like, "This is
not the end all, be all."
That is what really has brought him to,
like, not live and die on this field
and what happens tonight,
tomorrow, or last night.
[Duran] I used to, like,
ramble and just write,
but now I've prioritized
my journaling
to figure out, like,
why I feel certain ways.
This book talks about, like,
affirmations, and this one's a good one.
It goes, "I am worthy of success
and celebrate my achievements,
no matter how small."
[director] Do you
have any regrets?
Is there anything you would
do differently with him?
I should've separated
baseball and the personal
when it came to
our relationship.
And that was my fault,
and I… now I see that.
[Speier] He got to
a healthier place
with regards to his balance,
uh, between baseball and life,
and his production followed.
- Attaboy, Dory! Fuck!
- Let's go, kid!
I had a breakout year last year.
- [crowd cheers]
- [Will] And it's off the pole and gone.
Jarren Duran with a home run.
Going into the season
of '23, I was like,
"All right… I'm gonna do
what I want for my swing."
I just know what
makes me better.
[Speier] By the time
he came around in 2023,
he had first become more
open about discussing
the kind of internal
struggles he had faced.
He also was able to recalibrate
a little bit, I think,
when he played for Team Mexico
in the World Baseball Classic.
[uplifting music plays]
[Duran] That was some of the
funnest baseball I've played.
Just baseball lovers playing against
other baseball lovers, and it was sick.
- [crowd cheers]
- [commentator] Duran scores!
[Duran] I got to act
like a little kid.
Just every base hit,
I got to jump out of the dugout
like it was Game 7 World Series,
and with a sombrero on to add.
- [music fades]
- [cheering subsides, fades out]
Taking joy in competing,
um, maybe tapped into
something for Jarren Duran.
[Will] This is one of those
special Fenway nights,
and the Red Sox have the
Celtics on their feet.
Joe Mazzulla had the O'Brien
Trophy held up above his head,
trying to will these
Sox to a magical win.
- [Cora] Let's go. Let's go.
- [Andrew] Hell yeah. Let's go, boys!
[Will] And we're all locked up, 6-6,
bottom of the ninth, and here we go.
The speed guys coming
up for the Red Sox,
Rafaela, Duran, and Hamilton.
Three of the fastest guys
in the American League.
[Andrew] Oh, I would
fucking love it.
[Will] Rafaela bunts at
it, and it's strike one.
- Stay humble. Here we go!
- [Will] Duran on deck.
Swing and a ground ball up the
middle to the second baseman. Gloves.
- [Cora] Yeah!
- [Dave] He can't make the play!
- [crowd cheers]
- [Will] Rafaela beats it out.
And the Red Sox have the winning
run aboard to begin the ninth.
- [Rafaela] Nice.
- [Will] That speed is just a killer.
Fucking beautiful.
- [suspenseful music plays]
- [fans whistle]
[Will] But here's the
Red Sox's hottest hitter
with a chance to win the game.
[umpire] That's a balk!
[Will] Pitch to him is…
That's a balk!
- A balk? Is that a balk? Yes, it is!
- [players] Yeah!
- Let's go!
- [Andrew] He's fucking rattled!
He shit-fucked it!
[Lou] You know what? The
clock was running down.
[Will] So he had to hurry.
[Lou] He started, tried to hurry,
and he never came to a stop.
[Will] And the Red Sox have
the winning run at second base
here in the ninth inning,
on a balk after an error.
- [cheering, clapping]
- [whistle blows]
[in Spanish] Let him bat.
[suspenseful music continues]
[commentator in English] This is
who I want up in this situation.
If they're gonna challenge him and
go after him, this might sting 'em.
[Andrew] You gotta
walk him, right?
[in Spanish] Let him
bat. Let him bat.
[in English] Attaboy!
[crowd clapping]
[tense electronic music plays]
Rock it in the gap.
Rock it in the gap.
[Will] 1-1, the pitch is high.
Hamilton, who gave the Red Sox
the two-run homer in the eighth,
he's on deck.
[Cora in Spanish]
If it's a walk,
get to Hamilton quickly,
and tell him to hit it
so the pitcher can field it.
Okay? To the right
of the pitcher.
- [tense music continues]
- [fans cheering]
[Dave in English] The Red Sox
threatening to walk it off.
- ["Wave of Mutilation" by Pixies plays]
- That's it. That's a base hit!
Here comes Rafaela rounding,
trying to score, the ball home.
- And he wins it!
- [cheering erupts]
[Duran] Let's go!
Ball game over! Duran, the hero!
[players cheering]
[Will] Jarren Duran, his first
career walk-off for the Sox.
They're in the win column.
Cease to resist,
giving my goodbye ♪
Drive my car… ♪
- [Ramón] Let's fucking go! Vamos!
- Into the ocean… ♪
[in English] Fuck yeah, JD.
Fuck yeah, baby. You're the man.
- [overlapping jubilant chatter]
- On a wave of mutilation… ♪
- [crowd cheering]
- Wave of mutilation ♪
Wave of mutilation ♪
Wave… ♪
- [Duran] Whoo!
- That's cold.
- I don't know what it comes from…
- [music fades]
…but I just never feel
like I'm that good.
I don't know. It's just like these
inner demons that don't let me
love myself or wanna
be proud of myself.
That's still something
I'm working on.
You were great.
Absolutely great.
And the play? How's your back?
- Dude, I feel like up here…
- You gotta be scratched up.
- [woman] Can we have your autograph?
- [Barret] That was a great play.
Every once in a while, I'll catch
myself being proud of myself,
and I'm like, "Damn.
This is a good feeling."
- I'll let you know. See you, man.
- [Duran] Love you. Thank you.
[Barret chuckles]
So proud of you.
Yeah. Couple more coming.
- Yeah.
- [Barret chuckles]
[boy 1] Duran, please!
I gotta go. I'm sorry.
[boy 2] You're the
best player in the MLB.
[Barret chuckles]
But the demons always come back
and… and bring me back to earth,
so that's still
something I'm working on.
[reflective blues
guitar music plays]
[music continues]
[music fades out]
[earth skitters]
[child giggles]
- [gull calling]
- [waves lapping]
[clicking]
- [commentator] Number 23.
- [crowd cheers]
[strings stab]
[cheering fades]