Duran has five-hit day in Drive victory

Jarren Duran found his groove early in the professional ranks and moving up a level hasn't slowed him down.
The Red Sox outfield prospect notched his first career five-hit game on Sunday, going 5-for-5 with a run scored as Class A Greenville cruised past Rome, 9-2, at Fluor Field at the West End.

"I think I was just seeing the ball really well tonight," Duran said. "Their pitchers were throwing really well, but I think it was one of those nights where I was seeing the ball really well."
Duran followed Kervin Suarez's leadoff walk in the first inning with a ground single to center field off starter Odalvi Javier as the Drive grabbed a quick 1-0 lead. He lined another base hit to right in the second and picked up his third single with a fly ball to left in the fourth.
Facing reliever John Curtis in the sixth, the seventh-round pick in this year's Draft sent a grounder up the middle for his fourth straight hit and came around to score on a triple to center by Marino Campana. Duran beat out an infield single in the seventh to complete the Drive's second five-hit game of the season. Charlie Madden drove in four runs and scored four times while going 5-for-5 on May 14.
"I just want to continue to have quality at-bats," Duran said. "Even if I get out, I want to be able to take the positives out of the at-bat so I can take that into my next one and that approach can kind of carry over."
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All in all, Duron's jump to Class A has been seamless, albeit with a few lessons he brought from the New York-Penn League.
"It's been a little bit different," he said. "There's a lot of things I haven't seen before, pitchers I haven't seen before. But I think having a good coaching staff and good teammates to help me has helped make it go really well."
Since his promotion from Class A Short Season Lowell, Duran is 10-for-17 (.588) with four stolen bases and five runs scored. He compiled a .348/.393/.548 slash line in the New York-Penn League and has a 17-game hitting streak across the two levels.
"I think I've been taking one pitch at a time, going from one at-bat at a time, not getting frustrated by one at-bat," he said. "Like, it's one at-bat, you're going to get plenty more in the game. That's something I really learned."
While he was unaware of how far the hitting streak has stretched, Duron said his confidence has gone up as he's proven he can hit at whatever level he's assigned.

"I think I'm just going out there and having fun," the Long Beach State product said. "I didn't even know I had a hit streak. I think having fun is the biggest thing for me, just playing loose and having fun."
The Drive totaled a season-high 19 hits, with Tanner Nishioka homering twice and Ryan Fitzgerald going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Enmanuel De Jesus (6-3) won for the fourth time in his last five starts, allowing two runs on eight hits and three walks with five strikeouts over six innings.