Duran's monster HR, Abreu's throw home ignite Boston's 6th straight W

BOSTON – When the indefatigable Jarren Duran and the underrated Wilyer Abreu aren’t in the lineup for the Red Sox, it is always because a left-hander is pitching for the opposing team.

While one or the other is usually in there in such circumstances, both got the nod on Monday night against Royals lefty Bailey Falter -- and it paid off.

Duran, in the lineup all along, came through with the biggest hit of the game as the red-hot Red Sox ran their winning streak to six games with an 8-5 victory in the opener of a three-game series at Fenway Park.

With two outs in the bottom of the first, the Red Sox had already scored twice but were close to squandering the chance to add on with runners at the corners and nobody out.

Duran made sure that didn’t happen, mauling a two-out, three-run homer a Statcast-projected 419 feet into the center-field bleachers.

Of Duran’s 12 homers this season, two have come against same-handed pitchers.

“Jarren stayed on a breaking ball the first at-bat and didn’t miss it,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “I do believe our lefties can hit lefties. It just happens that we’ve got some righties [in Romy Gonzalez and Rob Refsnyder that] mash lefties. We have to play our best lineup up there. We've been doing that.”

Abreu was in the lineup by chance, and didn’t find out until just minutes before the first pitch. Roman Anthony, the one Red Sox lefty who always starts against southpaws, was scratched with mid-back tightness sustained during pregame warmups.

Enter Abreu, who batted third, drew a key walk to load the bases in that five-run first inning and then made a cannon of a throw to the plate to short-circuit Kansas City’s four-run rally in the eighth.

“First of all, credit to Wily for having my back here and coming in and doing what he did,” said Anthony. “I came out to the line. Everything felt normal all day, and felt something as I was stretching on the line. Just figured we'd be cautious with it, and just was super uncomfortable. [I] relayed that quickly, and [we] just decided we were going to shut it down.”

But Abreu swiftly got in gear.

“Like five minutes before the game, Alex told me that I was going to play,” said Abreu. “Of course I tried to get loose as quickly as possible, ran a couple sprints and a couple stretches and I was ready to go.”

The Red Sox love their outfield defense, which is probably the best in the game. And Duran also saved a run in this one when he made a Spider-Man-like catch to end the fourth, leaping in front of the scoreboard in left to snare a line drive off the bat of Kyle Isbel.

Nobody enjoyed it more than starting pitcher Brayan Bello, who raised his fist in triumph from the mound when his teammate went up and then came down with the big grab.

“Super happy,” said Bello “It was a great play. I feel like he ran for a long time and he was able to jump and get it. It was amazing for us and I'm grateful for that catch as well.”

With plenty of offense to work with, Bello (8-5, 3.03 ERA) turned in another strong performance for the Red Sox, allowing one unearned run over six frames.

Though things got interesting in the eighth, Abreu came through with the big play when needed. Bobby Witt Jr., representing the tying run with two outs, roped a single to right field, but Abreu fielded it and came up firing, nailing Nick Loftin up the third-base line well ahead of home plate. The only question is if Red Sox catcher Connor Wong impeded his path to the plate, but the call of out was confirmed upon review.

“It’s one of those plays, right? Especially when they go to replay, you never know what's going to happen,” said Wong. “You pray for the best. I think it’s one of the most exciting plays in baseball. And then when they go to replay, it kind of kills the vibe, or whatever.”

But the way the Red Sox are playing of late, it’s nearly impossible to kill the vibe at Fenway, where a packed house of 37,585 roared throughout the club’s 13th win in the last 14 home games.

“Yeah, it's different,” said Wong. “I mean, you can feel it, and we're feeding off of it. It's just been amazing the last two weeks.”