Red Sox’ Jarren Duran not stressing about trade deadline; ‘I love this team’

Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran scores in front of Dodgers catcher Will Smith on a sacrifice fly by Abraham Toro in the second inning Saturday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)AP

Red Sox left fielder Jarren Duran has been mentioned in trade rumors for months now.

He put on a show Saturday, five days before the July 31 trade deadline. The 28-year-old speedster went 3-for-4 with two triples, one double and two RBIs, helping lead Boston to a 4-2 victory over the Dodgers at Fenway Park.

“It’s always fun to run out a triple,” Duran said.

He was the first Red Sox player with multiple triples in a game since Mookie Betts hit two July 13, 2018 against the Blue Jays.

Duran joked about his close relationship with third base coach Kyle Hudson, pointing out Hudson made him slide into third on his game-tying two-run triple in the second inning, despite the Dodgers throwing to home plate.

“Huddy’s not giving me much direction,” Duran said, smiling. “He’s making me slide over there at third every single time. So maybe one time he’ll let me stand up over there.”

Duran leads the American League in triples with 12. He trails only Arizona’s Corbin Carroll (13 triples) for the MLB lead.

It’s not surprising that Duran, a left-handed hitter, has been mentioned in trade rumors. Boston has a surplus of left-handed hitting outfielders. The Red Sox could look to trade one of their left-handed bats to shore up another area of need on the roster like starting pitching.

“Honestly, that’s probably one of the things I actually don’t stress about,” Duran said about being mentioned in rumors. “I have no control over it. So if it happens, it happens. But I don’t have social media like Twitter and stuff like that. So I never kind of see any of that stuff. But my dad always keeps me on my toes and shoots one over to me every once in a while.”

The Padres have had interest in trading for Duran for a couple of years now. MassLive’s Sean McAdam reported Friday that the San Diego, in its never-ending quest to acquire Duran, proposed a package involving starter Dylan Cease, catching prospect Ethan Salas and another prospect (not shortstop Leo de Vries) for Duran, which the Red Sox quickly rejected.

“If it happens, it happens, but it’s just all rumors for now, so I’m just gonna keep having fun with my boys,” Duran said.

Duran also seems fine whether the front office adds at the deadline or stands pat. Boston could use a starting pitcher, late-inning reliever, first baseman and backup catcher.

“If they add, awesome. If they don’t, awesome,” Duran said. “We love the team we have, and we’re just gonna roll with what we got. There’s nothing we can control. We just gotta trust whatever they do is the best for the team.”

The Red Sox currently hold a half-game lead over Texas for the third and final AL Wild Card spot.

“I love this team,” Duran said. “Personally, I feel like we do it all. We can hit homers. We can run. We’re athletic. We’re young. And the best part about us being so young is if we lose the hard game, we’re laughing and joking, flushing it, and we’re ready to move on to the next game.”

Duran said he still has some difficulty flushing failures himself.

“But having such a young group, they kind of keep you on your toes. It’s like, ‘Dude, who cares? We’re going to play again tomorrow. We have another game tomorrow.’ So that’s always cool to have the young guys in here to keep us on our toes and keep us excited for the next day.”