BOSTON — Before Saturday, Jarren Duran had started 69 games for the Red Sox this season — and led off in all of them. That changed with Rob Refsnyder hitting first for the second consecutive day against Yankees lefty Carlos Rodón in the second game of a three-game series.
Duran, who was out of the lineup for just the second time all season Friday (before entering as a pinch-hitter in the eighth) has manned the top of Alex Cora’s lineup all season against both righties (54 starts) and lefties (15). But with a different-looking roster, it appears Duran won’t be guaranteed the leadoff spot against southpaws moving forward. On Saturday, Duran — sporting a .245 average and .628 OPS against southpaws this season — was hitting fifth.
“We’re gonna maximize Romy (Gonzalez) and (Refsnyder),” manager Alex Cora explained. “Against righties, we’ll go the way we’ve been doing it. Against lefties, with the personnel we have, this makes sense. Just maximizing those two, protecting Raffy, protecting Jarren. Probably, they’re going to face more righties than lefties because of how the lineup is.
“The roster shifted last week and it makes sense doing it this way.”
During a breakout 2024 season in which Duran started 160 games (and missed two because of a suspension for hurling a homophobic slur toward a fan in August), the speedster led off 153 times. Cora experimented with Ceddanne Rafaela in the top spot for two games in April, then mixed Refsnyder (three times) and Gonzalez (twice) into the leadoff spot against southpaws over the summer. For the large majority of the season, though, it was Duran — despite a .665 OPS against lefties — who was leading off, including in 42 of the final 43 games of the season after his suspension.
Now though, with left-handed rookies Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony on the team and key contributors like Alex Bregman and Wilyer Abreu sidelined, Cora is reversing course. Having Refsnyder (.969 OPS against lefties this season) and Gonzalez (.953 OPS) available is a huge factor.
“They’ve been really good about it,” Cora said. “We talk about Ref, but Romy the last two years, it’s not getting hits, it’s hitting the ball hard and the quality of the at-bats. They’re really good at what they do and we have to maximize those at-bats. We’re in the business of winning and I truly believe against lefties, they have to play.”
The Red Sox will face a big left-handed challenge in Sunday’s series finale with Yankees ace Max Fried on the hill. Again expect Cora to make tough decisions that include putting Mayer and/or Anthony on the bench and having someone other than Duran leading off in an effort to put Refsnyder and Gonzalez at the top of the lineup.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a reverse-splits guy,” Cora said. “They’re really good at what they do.”
