Caleb Durbin isn’t looking to hide from the obvious: His hitting has been horrendous. And he knows it. He entered the week owning bottom-five marks in batting average (.173), OPS (.507), and other meaningful offensive measures, in some cases occupying space on those leaderboards near teammates Trevor Story and Jarren Duran.

Durbin has, however, contributed defensively — in a big way. A quarter of the way through the season, Durbin has as strong a statistical case as any American League third baseman in the Gold Glove competition.

“Not hitting stinks when you feel like you’re a good hitter and you feel like you should be helping the team and producing on that side of the ball, but I know I can impact the game outside of just hitting home runs,” Durbin said. “The defense, I take a lot of pride in that. I’ve seen how important that is throughout the course of the season, so for me, that’s the standard.”

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The defensive standard has been high in his first season with the Sox and second in the majors. He has six defensive runs saved (as measured by Sports Info Solutions), tied for second among third basemen with the Reds’ Ke’Bryan Hayes and behind only the Giants’ Matt Chapman (seven) — elites at their position.

By outs above average (MLB Statcast), Durbin again is tied for second with three, same as the Dodgers’ Max Muncy. They trail the Royals’ Maikel Garcia (four).

“He’s been awesome. I know he was good last year — not to this extent, but he’s worked really hard at it,” interim manager Chad Tracy said of Durbin. “Despite some of the stuff he’s gone through offensively … he has been exceptional at third base, and that part matters, too.”

Tracy highlighted improvements in recent days in Durbin’s swing — specifically his contact point — but that has not manifested itself in meaningfully better output.

Durbin indicated he was at a loss over his struggles at the plate, describing “a daily process to get back” to the fun and success he had in 2025. He has hit two ground balls for every fly ball this season, nearly twice his rate from a year ago.

“I couldn’t tell you a reason why,” he said. “That’s just kind of baseball sometimes.”

The glove work only partially makes up for it.

“I want to hit, too. That’s the standard, too,” Durbin said. “It’s more frustrating when I’m not doing that, than oh, I’m playing good defense. The defense has to be good.”

Ranger Suarez will start the series finale against the Phillies, his former team.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

Pitching plans

What happens when a pair of big-market, extremely expensive teams that fired their managers in April meet in May?

We’re about to find out, with the Phillies visiting Fenway Park for a series Tuesday-Thursday.

The Red Sox are 7-6 since Tracy replaced Alex Cora. The Phillies are 10-3 since they dumped Rob Thomson and elevated Don Mattingly from bench coach to interim manager.

Another subplot: On Thursday, lefthander Ranger Suarez will pitch against his former team.

Suarez spent 14 years in the Phillies organization, including parts of eight seasons in the majors, compiling a 53-37 record with a 3.38 ERA — plus a standout postseason track record (1.48 ERA in 11 games). He joined the Sox on a five-year, $130 million deal in January.

Here are what the pitching matchups look like:

Tuesday: RHP Zack Wheeler (3.12 ERA) vs. RHP Brayan Bello (7.44; will appear after an opener).

Wednesday: RHP Andrew Painter (6.89) vs. RHP Sonny Gray (3.14).

Thursday: LHP Jesus Luzardo (5.98) vs. Suarez (2.77; first game in 11 days because of a hamstring injury).

Parting words

When the Sox sent fill-in starter Jake Bennett back to Triple-A Worcester late last Thursday, veteran reliever Garrett Whitlock offered unsolicited encouragement.

“I was like, ‘Listen, man, you’re a really good major league pitcher. Keep doing your thing,’ ” Whitlock said. “We’ve needed those guys to step up, and they have. It’s been huge.”

As the Red Sox have dipped deep into their rotation depth, Bennett, a lefthander, made two starts in his first taste of the majors, allowing five runs in 10⅓ innings.

Anthony’s status

Roman Anthony still was wearing a brace on his sprained right hand/wrist Sunday. The outfielder is eligible to return from the injured list Friday — and had expressed hope he would be back then — but it’s not clear he will be ready in time.

Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.