Caleb Durbin is batting cleanup for the Boston Red Sox on Friday against the Athletics at Fenway Park, only his fifth trip to the four-hole this season.
Durbin arrives in the four-spot fresh off perhaps the best week of his young career, a stretch that included his first career grand slam and a walk-off hit that turned an ordinary August game into one of the wildest wins Boston has produced all year.
Durbin’s numbers in the cleanup spot look enticing and certainly help explain the decision. In four starts batting fourth, he has hit .471 with a .550 on-base percentage and a 1.079 OPS, going 8-for-17 with a double, six runs and two RBIs, according to batting-order splits data from Baseball-Reference. That output dwarfs his production lower in the order, where he has spent most of the season hitting sixth or ninth.
| ATHLETICS STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Jack Perkins (RHP, #50) • 2-7, 6.72 ERA, 89 K | ||||||||
| August 7, 2026 • Fenway Park, Boston, MA • 7:10 PM EDT | ||||||||
| # | Player | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | Henry Bolte | CF | R | 4 | 21 | 13 | .259 | .686 |
| 2 | Jacob Wilson | SS | R | 7 | 36 | 4 | .270 | .694 |
| 3 | Jonah Heim | C | S | 11 | 36 | 0 | .229 | .714 |
| 4 | Tyler Soderstrom | LF | L | 17 | 52 | 1 | .245 | .800 |
| 5 | Tommy White | 1B | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | .278 | .603 |
| 6 | Brian Serven | DH | R | 2 | 4 | 0 | .250 | .919 |
| 7 | Lawrence Butler | RF | L | 7 | 30 | 7 | .209 | .634 |
| 8 | Max Muncy | 3B | R | 5 | 20 | 3 | .220 | .670 |
| 9 | Jonathan Ornelas | 2B | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .583 |
| Lineups subject to change. | ||||||||
Caleb Durbin’s Grand Slam Fuels Boston Red Sox Surge
The 26-year-old third baseman hit his first career grand slam on August 4 against the Chicago White Sox, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base in a 14-2 Boston rout at Fenway. Two nights later, in a 13-inning marathon against the same White Sox club, Durbin delivered a walk-off RBI single off reliever Erick Fedde that scored Nick Sogard and completed a 12-11 win in which Boston erased deficits five separate times over more than four hours of baseball.
That comeback made the Red Sox the first team since 1900 to score in the ninth inning or later in the same game on five separate occasions, according to OptaSTATS data reported by Yahoo Sports.
Durbin went 3-for-6 in that game with a double and a walk. The win extended Boston’s winning streak to eight straight, a streak that started just six games after Boston ended a franchise record-tying 15-game streak, and part of a stretch in which the Red Sox have taken 26 of their last 29 games.
Boston sits at 63-51, a half-game behind the New York Yankees for the top American League wild-card spot and 6 1/2 games clear of the Texas Rangers to hold the second American League wild-card position.
| BOSTON RED SOX STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Payton Tolle (LHP, #70) • 6-6, 3.30 ERA, 110 K | ||||||||
| August 7, 2026 • Fenway Park, Boston, MA • 7:10 PM EDT | ||||||||
| # | Player | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | Nick Sogard | 1B | S | 0 | 3 | 0 | .242 | .688 |
| 2 | Ceddanne Rafaela | CF | R | 15 | 59 | 16 | .287 | .800 |
| 3 | Wilyer Abreu | RF | L | 20 | 59 | 7 | .253 | .783 |
| 4 | Caleb Durbin | 3B | R | 11 | 51 | 13 | .251 | .730 |
| 5 | Masataka Yoshida | DH | L | 5 | 24 | 2 | .269 | .740 |
| 6 | Andruw Monasterio | SS | R | 6 | 28 | 3 | .268 | .782 |
| 7 | Jarren Duran | LF | L | 15 | 58 | 17 | .204 | .614 |
| 8 | Anthony Seigler | 2B | S | 3 | 12 | 2 | .240 | .699 |
| 9 | Jake Rogers | C | R | 3 | 10 | 1 | .163 | .570 |
| Lineups subject to change. | ||||||||
How Caleb Durbin Arrived at the Boston Red Sox
Boston acquired Durbin from the Milwaukee Brewers in a February trade that also sent Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler to the Red Sox in exchange for pitchers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan and infielder David Hamilton. He made his major league debut with Milwaukee in April 2025 and finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting after a rookie season in which he hit 11 home runs and stole 18 bases in 136 games.
A Washington University in St. Louis product nicknamed “The Durbinator,” Durbin was a 14th-round pick by the Atlanta Braves in 2021 before being traded to the New York Yankees system and eventually landing with the Brewers. He stands 5-foot-6 and has built a reputation as one of the American League’s top defensive third basemen to go with his growing offensive prowess.
Durbin is hitting .251 with 11 home runs, 51 RBIs and 13 stolen bases this season, numbers that place him among Boston’s most complete everyday players at just 26 years old. His defense at third base has drawn similar praise, with advanced metrics ranking him among the American League’s better gloves at the position.
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