Jarren Duran lets expletives fly as outfielder shoulders blame for Red Sox loss in Fenway opener

BOSTON -- No member of the Red Sox felt particularly great after the team's sloppy 7-1 loss to the Orioles at Fenway Park on Tuesday. No one was harder on themselves than left fielder Jarren Duran, who put Boston's loss in its home opener squarely on his shoulders.

On an afternoon where the Red Sox committed a pair of errors and failed to convert on a handful of routine defensive plays, Duran saw his miscue as the most costly of the day. With the game tied at 1-1 in the top of the fourth, Baltimore's Cedric Mullens stepped up to the dish with a runner on first and two outs. Mullens lined a Brayan Bello offering to left field, and it looked like Duran would make a routine catch to end the frame.

But instead of the final out of the inning falling into Duran's glove, he muffed it. The ball hit off the side of his glove and rolled around left field, setting the Orioles up with runners on second and third. Colton Cowser made Duran and the Sox pay instantly, doubling in both runners to put Baltimore on top 3-1.

Duran was livid with himself, and that anger festered throughout the rest of the game. The 27-year-old did not hold back in the locker room after the loss, and took all the blame.

"I just (expletive) suck, man," Duran told reporters. "It's my (expletive) fault, dude. If I make that play, we get out of the inning and then none of those other (expletive) things happen. I just (expletive) suck, honestly."

Duran said that he completely misread Mullens' liner and slowed up too early.

"I was just running and I kind of thought I was already there," he said. "It just kept tailing away. I should have taken a couple more steps and I would've been on it. Just good slice on the ball. I just kept going. I kind of like sprinted toward it, thought I was with it and it just kept going. So I tried to extend and I just missed it."

Duran has opened up about his struggles with mental health over the last year, and revealed that he writes in a journal to cope. He said that he would have plenty to write about Tuesday night, and may need to invest in a new journal.

"(Expletive) happens, man. I (expletive) it up. That's on me," he said. "I've just gotta be better."

Duran's accountability is admirable, though he was a bit hard on himself. It was a bad error for sure and definitely a costly one, but it was far from the only reason the Red Sox lost on Tuesday. In addition to the defensive deficiencies the team displayed throughout the game, the Boston bats also went silent. The Sox had just one base runner after Duran's error, and Triston Casas only found his way to first by way of a walk in the bottom of the fourth.

While Duran was beating himself up after the game, he did point out that he has another opportunity to make up for his miscue on Wednesday.

"Good thing it was a 2 o'clock game so I got more time to talk (smack) about myself for the rest of the day," he said. "And then I'll flush it and get over it."