48 hours ago this team was a punchline. Brayan Bello couldn't survive an inning, the lineup was getting no-hit by the Marlins for stretches, and Portnoy was openly rooting for a meteor. Then they walked into Yankee Stadium and remembered they were a big league baseball team.
Carrabis recaps the whole win with his usual pun-stuffed scorecard — Sonny's 6, Durbin RBIs, Wong's 2-run knock, a Masa bases-loaded walk, Duran's 3-run tank.
Caleb Durbin has been the quiet engine here. Two RBI in this one, and the believers are crawling out of the woodwork after weeks of getting laughed at for buying low on a guy nobody else wanted. When Carrabis tells you to stand up, you stand up.
A short, definitive call-out to the Durbin truthers.
Caleb Durbin believers stand the fuck up.
And then there's Duran, who has officially crossed the threshold from "fun player" to "problem." The numbers since May 16 are absurd — and he's not even doing it alone. Willson Contreras has been right there with him, the pair of them dragging this lineup back to respectability one extra-base hit at a time.
The Duran/Contreras hot-stretch numbers since May 16, with both ranking top-6 in AL OPS over the span.
Since May 16, Willson Contreras and Jarren Duran combined are hitting .368 with an 1.109 OPS. They rank 3rd and 6th in the AL in OPS respectively over that span. Duran is also tied for the fourth most extra-base hits in the AL this month (13).
Is this the turn? Probably not — this team has invented 14 different ways to stink up the joint already this year and they'll find a 15th. But winning a ballgame at Yankee Stadium with a Sonny start, a Masa go-ahead walk and a Duran tank is the most Red Sox-coded path back to relevance you could draw up. Take the W, take the vibes, and try not to look directly at the standings.