The clock was approaching midnight on the East Coast when Boston Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin stepped in to bat in the 13th inning. There wouldn’t be a 14th inning, as Durbin hit a line drive single up the middle to walk off the Chicago White Sox, and the party was on.
The Red Sox won their ninth-straight series and their eighth game in a row. Red Sox players rushed toward Durbin before later hitting him with a Gatorade bath while doing the postgame interview. It was all enough to forget that Durbin had seemingly re-injured his hand earlier in the game.
Durbin had slid into second base before working on his pinky finger. That’s the same finger he injured in Colorado, sliding into first base. Luckily, Durbin was able to dismiss any concerns about it in his postgame interview on NESN.
“It’s just a pinky, it’s all good,” Durbin said.
The Red Sox didn’t lead the 13-inning marathon game against the White Sox until Durbin’s walk-off hit. Prior to that, they had trailed and tied the game five different times. Durbin was a massive part of that, going 3 for 6 with a walk while scoring two runs. The White Sox decided it was better to face him in the 13th than Wilyer Abreu, who they intentionally walked.
“They walked the guy in front of me. I had to make them pay for it,” Durbin said.
The Boston Red Sox Success Started with a Caleb Durbin Injury
GettyBoston Red Sox Caleb Durbin hits a home run off Cam Schlittler
It was on June 24th when Caleb Durbin initially injured his finger. At the time, the Red Sox lost two of three to the Rockies and fell to 32-46 on the season. Seemingly making things worse, the Red Sox were heading home to host the New York Yankees and Cy Young contender Cam Schlittler.
The Red Sox won that game, and even though errors showed that Schlittler gave up zero earned runs, Durbin took him over the Green Monster. That was a day after dislocating his pinky, when he was struggling individually and would have been given a day off if he needed it.
It was the spark that the Red Sox needed. They’d sweep the Yankees and have only lost one series since then. That’s included tying a franchise record for a 15-game win streak, on their way to a 31-5 record since then.
You could argue it was a coincidence that this came just as Durbin battled through an injury, showed his toughness, and sparked a win against New York. It would just be a pretty big coincidence that their attitude changed randomly since then.
Caleb Durbin Turned His Own Season Around
GettyThe Boston Red Sox and Caleb Durbin celebrate a walk-off hit
The Boston Red Sox traded for Caleb Durbin this offseason, putting him in a position where he needed to replace the combination of Alex Bregman and Rafael Devers. It was always going to be a difficult position to be in, and then he struggled for the first two months of the season.
At the end of May, Durbin had a .183 batting average and a .530 OPS. His only home run came off a position player. To put it politely, Red Sox fans were already done with him.
Then, the calendar turned to June, and Durbin reportedly worked with a private hitting coach. Since then, he’s exploded and is up to a .251 batting average and a .729 OPS. Not to mention, he has 11 home runs. That’s because he’s batting .309 since June 1st.
In the process, Durbin has turned his doubters into believers in Boston. If he can keep it up, the Red Sox may just have their long-term answer at third base.
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