Thursday, September 24

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BOSTON -- In a meet-and-greet a couple of years in the making, Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin at last had the thrill of meeting Dustin Pedroia before Wednesday’s game against the Guardians at Fenway Park.

For Durbin, this was no small thing. And no pun intended.

Yes, Durbin is drawn to Red Sox Hall of Famer Pedroia because of the way he overcame his lack of size to become an iconic player for Boston. But that is just one of the reasons.

“Just the way he went about his business,” said Durbin. “From things as far as just how he played the game on the field to how he acted off the field, the way he battled through things is something I wanted to model my game around.”

For Pedroia, who lives in Arizona, it was his first trip to Fenway this season. And not a moment too soon for Durbin, who joined the Red Sox in a trade from the Brewers in February.

When Durbin was with the Brewers, his manager was Pat Murphy, who coached Pedroia at Arizona State.

Murphy long wanted to connect the two, but the timing never worked.

After Durbin finished infield work on Wednesday, he spotted Pedroia in street clothes a little bit in front of Boston’s dugout. 

Durbin struck up the nerve to talk to Pedroia, and the two exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes. The mutual respect was obvious.

“He’s a great guy. He’s a legend around here,” Durbin said. “Any time you get to rub shoulders with a guy like that, it only makes you better. Just a cool moment for me.”

In Durbin, Pedroia sees a kindred spirit.

“Durb’s the man,” said Pedroia. “He plays hard. He’s a grinder. He had a slow start, but you know how it is. It’s a full season. I think he’s coming into his own and the fans are seeing who he truly is.”

A little while before Durbin sidled up to Pedroia for a conversation, Boston’s former star second baseman crashed the team hitters' meeting.

“He was joking around with us and being serious at times,” Durbin said. “It’s good to have a guy like that around the guys, around the clubhouse. Lightens the mood up a little bit at this time of the year and good to have him around.”

Considering that Durbin went to a Division 3 college (Washington University in St. Louis) and Pedroia was a standout player at a Division 1 powerhouse at Arizona State, Durbin was a far bigger underdog to get to the Major Leagues than the man he admires so much.

But both players know what it is like to be undersold by scouts and evaluators because of their lack of size.

While Durbin has established himself as an everyday player for contending teams the last two seasons, Pedroia set a high bar by winning the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP in his first two years in the Majors.

In the first two months of the '26 season, Durbin slumped mightily, 

bringing back memories of Pedroia’s slow start in '07 before he rallied to win that Rookie of the Year Award, not to mention his first of three World Series championship titles he helped lead the Red Sox to. 

Much like Pedroia 19 years ago, Durbin kept his head down and kept working when things were at their toughest.  He said he didn’t get texts from Pedroia when he was struggling, nor did he expect to.

“I think he knows how tough this game is,” Durbin said of Pedroia. “Sometimes the best thing is to just let it be. I think he has a pretty good idea -- just from communication with Murph and other mutual coaches and friends -- the type of guy I am, and I don’t think he was too worried about me.”

When the Red Sox went on a 32-5 surge from June 25 to Aug. 7, Durbin had several of the team’s most memorable hits, including a go-ahead homer off Cam Schlittler and a walk-off single to cap a 12-11 thriller over the White Sox in 13 innings on Aug. 6.

To Durbin, Wednesday’s chance meeting with his baseball idol matched his on-field highlights from earlier in the summer.

“It’s super cool. I’ve had some communication with him. Obviously seeing him in person, it’s pretty surreal,” Durbin said.

Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Red Sox since the 2004 World Series. But he continues to give back to the Boston area.

On Thursday, the three-time Cy Young Award winner was scheduled to hold an event on behalf of the Pedro Martinez Foundation in Lawrence, Mass.

The Foundation is launching an afterschool coding program in partnership with Lawrence Public Schools.

When it officially begins, the program will provide third- and fourth-grade students from seven elementary schools in the city with critical access to modern technology and a safe space to learn while fostering problem-solving skills. It’s part of the Foundation’s mission to create long-term impact with community programs in the United States and Dominican Republic by providing youth with education, health and sports programs to thrive in life.

It was the late, legendary Ernie Banks of the Cubs who famously liked to say, “Let’s play two.” 

That’s exactly what the Red Sox and Cubs will do on Friday at Fenway Park to kick off the final three-game series of the season for both clubs. The game that was originally scheduled to be played on Sunday has been moved up to Friday at 1:05 p.m. ET as the first game of a split doubleheader. Friday’s originally scheduled contest will move up to 6:05 p.m. ET. 

While Saturday’s 7:15 p.m. ET game is still on the schedule, there’s a chance that one will have to be moved to a different time or day. In fact, a neutral site hasn’t been ruled out if Boston’s weather forecast doesn’t improve. The game has big seeding implications for the Cubs, who are part of the three-way scramble with the Padres and Phillies for Wild Card positioning.

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