Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran was on the receiving end of a particularly nasty comment from a spectator on Sunday at Progressive Field against the Cleveland Guardians.
“Go (expletive) kill yourself,” the fan told Duran, according to a witness near the Boston dugout.
Duran, who recently revealed his attempted suicide in 2022 during the Netflix docuseries about the Red Sox, jawed back at the fan as coaches, teammates, and umpires intervened. The fan was removed from the stadium, and the Guardians are working with Major League Baseball to determine next steps.
After the game, a 13-3 win that clinched the series for the Red Sox, Duran gave his take on the incident.
“The fan just said something inappropriate and I’m just happy that the security handled it and the umpires were aware of it and they took care of it for me,” Duran said, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.
“When you open yourself up like that, you’re also opening yourself up to the enemies. “But I have a good support staff around me — teammates, coaches and fans that were supporting me. So that was awesome.”
“This is a two-way street. That’s something I said last year,” Cora said. “We made a mistake last year and we learned from it and we grew up as an individual and as a group.”
“But there’s limits, too. And I think security did a good job of it. I think the fan — whatever he said or whatever was going on — security felt like he crossed the line and they kicked him out.”
Cora was referring, of course, to the August 2024 incident in which Duran directed a homophobic slur at a fan at Fenway Park who was heckling him with the refrain, “You need a tennis racket” throughout the game against the Houston Astros.
Duran may have a past indiscretion, but the comment from the fan was completely over the line this time around. It took courage to share what he shared, and any attempt to make light of attempted suicide is out of bounds, plain and simple.
More MLB: Jarren Duran Heckling Incident Explained: What Guardians Fan Said To Red Sox Star