CHICAGO — By definition, any steal of home is unusual. But Jarren Duran’s steal of home in the third inning Friday night was downright bizarre.
With Bobby Dalbec on first with a leadoff walk, Duran hit a grounder toward the mound. White Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet fielded the ball and went to throw to first, but his throw was wild, allowing Dalbec to circle the bases with the first run of the night for the Red Sox while Duran raced all the way to third.
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Just one problem: Duran apparently missed first base on his journey, and both the Red Sox and White Sox knew it. So as Duran took a lead off third, Crochet stepped off and threw to first. But as he did, Duran broke for the plate. Amazingly, once again, Crochet’s throw was wild and eluded Chicago first baseman Andrew Vaughn, and the Red Sox had themselves a run out of a most unusual turn of events.
It was officially Duran’s second steal of home this season, the first having come May 21.
“We noticed that (Duran) missed first from our end,” explained Alex Cora. “So we were telling him as soon as (Crochet) engages, go (home). And if he steps off and tries to make a play (at home) on him, hopefully, he’s safe at the plate and we can steal a run. We did steal a run in that situation. I think it was more about the mechanism of the appeal; that’s why we were actually able to do it.
“They appealed, he was called safe and then from there, they ran out of time as far as the replay stuff. And that’s why he was able to score.”
According to Cora, the Red Sox strategy was to “try to move to the next play instead of the appeal. And the next play was him trying to steal home plate. Because we really thought he missed the bag (initially).”
“I knew (the original play) was going to be a close play at first because of the way I hit it,” he said, “and I know (Crochet) is a big guy, so as soon as I hit it, I was running as hard as I could. I was just keeping my eye on Bob (Dalbec) and if Bob was going to go (home), I was going to go to third. I think I hit (the first base bag), but I know (Duran and Vaughn) collided. I hit his arm and it was going into a tough play. If I missed it, I missed it; if I got it, I got it. But it was just a bang-bang play, so when I saw the ball get away, I was just going.”
Duran was told by third base coach Kyle Hudson to break for the plate as soon as Crochet stepped off the rubber to throw over for the appeal.
“I didn’t know for sure if he had to be on the rubber or just around the mound for me to (break),” said Duran. “But I think If we had to do it again, I would probably do it a little differently. But I’m glad I was able to do something for the team right there. I was just trying to cause havoc on the bases, man. I’m blessed with the legs, so I’m just trying to use them as much as I can possibly can.”
