{"id":661772,"date":"2026-04-03T23:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T23:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661772\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T23:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T23:55:18","slug":"red-sox-newcomer-fights-off-boos-to-end-hitless-streak-in-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661772\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox newcomer fights off boos to end hitless streak in home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

The boo birds didn\u2019t come out right away from the Fenway Faithful for new Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin in Friday\u2019s 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres<\/a> in the team\u2019s home opener.<\/p>\n

He escaped pregame introductions without hearing them, but in the bottom of the second, Durbin hit a dribbler in front of the plate that Padres catcher Luis Campusano pounced on and turned into an inning-ending 2-4-3 double play.<\/p>\n

Hitting into a soft twin killing made Durbin 0-for-19 at the plate in a Red Sox uniform and 0-for-34 dating back to last season when the National League Rookie of the Year finalist was a member of the Brewers. The 36,233 fans in attendance then let their opinion of Durbin be well-known with boisterous boos that even caught the attention of Red Sox manager Alex Cora.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Boston, right?\u201d Durbin said. \u201cYou want fans that are poured into it though. When you\u2019re not going good, when it\u2019s bad, you\u2019re beating yourself up more than anything. You definitely don\u2019t take it personally. Honestly, it\u2019s a good thing because you want the fans to be on you. That\u2019s what makes Boston special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durbin finally gave the Red Sox, and their fans, something to cheer about from an offensive standpoint two innings later. After Jarren Duran doubled to start the fourth followed by Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu strikeouts, Durbin stepped into the batter\u2019s box with another chance to put an end to his elongated hitless streak.<\/p>\n

This time, Durbin came through and a collective sight of relief could be felt within Fenway Park.<\/p>\n

Durbin shot a two-out single off Padres starting pitcher and Boston College product Michael King right up the middle to center field to bring home Duran and give the Red Sox a 2-0 cushion.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball is a game where you just try to win pitches. For me, I just try to win pitches,\u201d said Durbin, who finished the day 1-for-4 to bring his batting average up to a miniscule .045. \u201cWhen things aren\u2019t going great, you kind of try to simplify it. Just trying to keep it simple and was able to get a good pitch to drive there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The horrific offensive start for Durbin was magnified since the Red Sox gave up assets to acquire him in a trade<\/a> this past offseason. The Red Sox sent left-handed pitching prospect Kyle Harrison, who Boston got in the Rafael Devers trade from the Giants and struck out eight over five innings in his Brewers debut earlier this week, Shane Drohan and David Hamilton to Milwaukee for Durbin, backup infielder Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler and a 2026 competitive balance round B draft pick.<\/p>\n

Cora stuck with Durbin through the rough stretch \u2014 Durbin started six of seven games \u2014 to ensure the the 25-year-old infielder\u2019s confidence never wavered. Cora even relayed a story about how former Red Sox captain and current game planning and run prevention coach Jason Varitek got boo\u2019ed by fans after having a tough time catching Tim Wakefield only to be cheered later in the game for hitting a home run.<\/p>\n

The support from Cora and his teammates helped Durbin keep the same mindset to finally break through Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you just have to stay within yourself,\u201d Durbin said. \u201cYou\u2019ve been through it. A lot of people at this league, we\u2019ve all been through stretches like that. I\u2019ve been through stretches like that last year. It\u2019s nothing new. You just keep in mind it\u2019s a long season, and just try to take it game-by-game and pitch-by-pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BostonBoston Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin fields a grounder by San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts in the sixth inning as the Red Sox take on the Padres during the home opener at Fenway Park. (staff photo by Stuart Cahill\/MNG)<\/p>\n

Despite the hits rarely coming from Durbin this season, it hasn\u2019t impacted his play at the hot corner. He showed a slick glove against the Padres, including charging a slow roller and throwing on the run to get Fernando Tatis Jr. at first to end the eighth inning.<\/p>\n

And after a years-long trend of defensive miscues<\/a>, the strong fielding from Durbin is a welcomed sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the fact that\u2019s he\u2019s playing third base the way he is. That\u2019s very important for us,\u201d Cora said. \u201cThe at-bats are going to be the at-bats. He\u2019s going to settle down, breathe and put some big swings. He\u2019s working hard, which is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The good news for Durbin is he still has the majority of the season \u2014 155 games to be exact \u2014 to turn things around and make fans forget all about his anemic offensive start.<\/p>\n

He has the makeup as a gritty, undersized 5-foot-6, 183-pound third baseman to become a Red Sox fan favorite if things turn out the way he wants. He has outplayed his stature and overachieved at seemingly every point in his career to get to this point, starring at Division III Washington University in St. Louis before getting selected in the 14th round by the Braves in 2021.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s hoping to give Sox fans more reasons to cheer in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it\u2019s not what\u2019s been put out there so far,\u201d Durbin said. \u201cBut I love this game. I love playing this game through the good and the bad. These guys have rallied behind me and are helping me out. Throughout the season, there\u2019s going to be a lot of really good times and I\u2019m just looking forward to that in front of these fans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The boo birds didn\u2019t come out right away from the Fenway Faithful for new Red Sox third baseman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2407],"tags":[5,136,3615,8777,4,43,89,137,18,4339,4338],"class_list":{"0":"post-661772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-padres","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brewers","10":"tag-caleb-durbin","11":"tag-home-opener","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-padres","14":"tag-red-sox","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-san-diego-padres","17":"tag-sandiego","18":"tag-sandiegopadres"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116343481380605840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}