Jarren Duran stepped to the plate in the 11th inning without a hit in four tries, the game tied and Boston’s momentum hanging by a thread. Then Cade Gibson threw a sweeper, and Duran didn’t miss it — a grand slam that turned a 3-3 tie into a 7-3 final and handed the Red Sox their fifth consecutive win.
How the game got complicated before that swing
Boston actually took the lead in the 10th inning on a passed ball — about as quiet a run as you can score. But a wild pitch in the same inning let Brian Navaretto score from third for Miami, and just like that it was 3-3 again heading to the 11th.
The sequence that set up the grand slam was almost textbook: Willson Contreras singled, Jahmai Jones drew a walk, and the bases loaded when Andruw Monasterio grounded into a force at the plate. That left it to Duran, 0-for-4 on the night, to face Gibson’s sweeper. He didn’t waste it.
Duran’s hot stretch puts the homer in context
This wasn’t a bolt from the blue. Duran had been locked in heading into Tuesday, hitting .341 with an .856 OPS over his previous 12 games. His full-season Statcast numbers — 89.6 mph average exit velocity and a 39.5% hard-hit rate — are part of why Boston already locked him up for $7.7 million in 2026, even after a season with some rough patches.
Mickey Gasper had himself a night too
Duran wasn’t the only Red Sox hitter who showed up. Mickey Gasper hit two home runs — his first multi-homer game in the big leagues — and now has five home runs in his last eight games after going deep zero times in his first 109 plate appearances this season. That kind of surge doesn’t happen often.
On the mound
Payton Tolle started for Boston and delivered seven strikeouts and two runs in 5.1 innings. Tyler Phillips matched his career-high with seven strikeouts in 4.2 innings for Miami, but the Marlins‘ bullpen couldn’t hold the tie in extras — and that’s where the game was lost.
Where Boston stands
The win moved the Red Sox to 72-59 with nine wins in their last 12 games. They sit third in the AL East and remain firmly in the postseason conversation at the most important stretch of the calendar. Miami, which entered at 67-65, couldn’t take advantage of a home game — and letting a tied extra-inning game slip away on a wild pitch and a grand slam is exactly the kind of loss that stings when September rolls around.
