Jarren Duran’s 11th-inning grand slam rescues Red Sox after costly mistakes in 7-3 win over Marlins

Jarren Duran had spent most of Tuesday night searching for a hit. By the 11th inning, the Red Sox were searching for a way to avoid giving away a game they should have already won.

One swing solved both problems as Duran crushed a grand slam with one out in the 11th, breaking a 3-3 tie and lifting the Red Sox to a wild 7-3 victory over the Marlins at LoanDepot Park.

The 412-foot, 105-mph blast was Duran’s second career grand slam and completed Boston’s fifth consecutive victory. The Red Sox improved to 73-59 overall and 39-27 on the road while dropping Miami to 67-66.

Duran entered the at-bat 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and had only two hits in his previous 12 at-bats dating back to Saturday.

With Wilyer Abreu beginning the 11th at second as the automatic runner, Willson Contreras reached on an infield single before Jahmai Jones walked. After an out, Duran unloaded to right-center and turned a tie game into a four-run lead.

“It felt good, man. I felt like it was like a 100-pound weight lifted off my shoulders,” Duran told NESN’s Jahmai Webster postgame. “I felt like all night I’ve had opportunities to do something for the team and having the pitchers keep us in it and giving me the opportunity to do that is awesome.”

The grand slam also erased the frustration of an ugly 10th inning in which Boston had been one strike away from winning.

Rookie Wyatt Olds appeared to finish the game when he struck out Javier Sanoja with two outs and the Red Sox leading 3-2. But the pitch got away from catcher Connor Wong, allowing automatic runner Brian Navarreto to race home with the tying run.

It was Boston’s second costly mistake of the inning. Andruw Monasterio had already made an errant throw to first after fielding Otto Lopez’s leadoff grounder, putting two runners aboard with nobody out.

With Aroldis Chapman unavailable after pitching on consecutive days and three times in four days, Alec Gamboa eventually induced a groundout to drag Boston into the 11th.

The dramatic finish to the game overshadowed another remarkable performance from Mickey Gasper, whose unexpected power surge continued.

Gasper reached in all four of his plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with two homers and two walks. He has now reached safely in all eight of his plate appearances through the first two games of the series.

His first homer, a 394-foot shot to center in the second, gave Boston a 1-0 lead. After Miami tied it, Gasper struck again in the sixth, blasting a 418-foot homer to center to make it 2-1.

Since being recalled from Triple-A Worcester on Aug. 16, Gasper is 10-for-21 with five home runs, three doubles, 12 RBI, six walks and only one strikeout.

The Marlins answered Gasper’s second homer immediately when Heriberto Hernández led off the bottom of the sixth by taking Payton Tolle deep for a 403-foot solo shot, tying the game at 2-2 and ending what had begun as another dominant performance by the rookie left-hander.

Tolle retired 12 of the first 13 hitters he faced and carried a no-hitter into the fifth before Xavier Edwards doubled to lead off the inning. Brian Navarreto eventually tied the game with a sacrifice fly after battling Tolle through a 10-pitch at-bat.

Tolle’s command faded somewhat as his outing progressed, with six of his final nine hitters reaching base. Still, he finished 5 1/3 innings allowing two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out seven.

His stuff remained impressive. Tolle generated 17 swings and misses, including 11 with a four-seam fastball that averaged 95.8 mph.

Tuesday also continued a striking season-long trend for Tolle when pitching with an extra day of rest.

In 12 starts on five days of rest, Tolle is 6-2 with a 2.22 ERA and 0.93 WHIP over 73 innings. He has 76 strikeouts against only 16 walks and has surrendered four home runs.

The results have been considerably different on regular rest. In six starts on four days of rest, Tolle is 1-3 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.42 WHIP across 30 1/3 innings. He has walked 14 while striking out 32 and has allowed the same number of home runs, four, despite pitching fewer than half as many innings.

After posting a 4.94 ERA over five July starts, Tolle has responded with a 2.37 ERA over 30 1/3 innings in five August outings.

Boston’s defense helped him navigate some trouble, particularly in the fifth, after Edwards opened the inning with a double, Leo Jiménez grounded to Anthony Seigler at second. Rather than simply taking the out at first, Seigler alertly fired to Nick Sogard at third to erase Edwards.

Seigler was in the middle of another heads-up defensive sequence two innings later.

With Jakob Marsee at second and one out, Lopez smoked a 103.2 mph grounder up the middle. Seigler ranged to the shortstop side of second and made an off-balance throw to first. Lopez beat the throw, but Contreras immediately noticed Marsee trying to score and fired home to Wong, who cut him down at the plate.

Tyron Guerrero then retired Hernández to escape the inning without allowing a run.

Boston had a chance to manufacture something in the ninth when Seigler walked with one out and Eli White entered to pinch-run, but White was thrown out attempting to steal second.

That left the game tied and gave Erik Miller another opportunity to continue his dominant start with Boston.

Miller struck out the side in the ninth and has now punched out 18 while allowing only one unearned run over 10 1/3 innings in 10 appearances since being acquired from San Francisco for Marcelo Mayer at the trade deadline.

“It was a wild game, no doubt about it,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “There was a lot of stuff going on for both sides, back and forth, tied, then it’s un-tied, then it’s tied again and it felt like someone was going to have to get a two-run swing and we got a four-run swing.”

The Red Sox have now won five straight and secured their third consecutive series victory. They’ll go for the sweep Wednesday night, but Tuesday’s win also helped them make up ground elsewhere in the playoff race.

With both the Yankees and Rays losing, Boston moved within five games of Tampa Bay in the AL East and 1 1/2 games of New York for the top American League Wild Card spot.

Boston has now won five straight and will go for the sweep Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. Veteran Sonny Gray (16-3, 2.79 ERA) is scheduled to face Miami right-hander Ryan Gusto (0-3, 4.37 ERA).

Anthony Homers for WooSox

Roman Anthony hit his second home run since beginning his rehab assignment last week, blasting a go-ahead two-run shot in the seventh inning for Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday night.

Anthony also drew a bases-loaded walk and finished 2-for-4 with a homer, three RBI and a walk as he continues working his way back from his hand injury. There’s a chance Anthony could return as early as this weekend for Boston’s pivotal four-game series against the Yankees, though he stressed there isn’t a firm timetable.

“We’ll re-assess how I feel after tonight and same thing goes for tomorrow. There’s no plan. There’s no flight that’s booked,” Anthony said. “It’s all about how I respond and how I feel and at-bats and getting back into baseball form.

“I’m taking it super day-by-day. There’s no plan, there’s no, ‘You’ve got to be ready by this time.’ That’s been great.”

Trevor Story, who is also on a rehab assignment, drew a bases-loaded walk immediately after Anthony in the second inning but otherwise went 0-for-4.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa had his best game since beginning his rehab assignment, going 1-for-3 with a double and two walks. Unlike Anthony, Kiner-Falefa may not return until rosters expand Sept. 1.

The utilityman has been sidelined since June 18 with a stress reaction in his forearm and acknowledged that Boston’s current roster construction could factor into the timing of his return.

“I understand how things move with the roster,” Kiner-Falefa said. “We’ve got a lot of quality guys and guys, who have done things, who don’t deserve to come down or be [designated for assignment].”

Kiner-Falefa experienced a similar situation last season. He spent the first five months with Pittsburgh before Toronto claimed him Aug. 31, allowing him to join the contending Blue Jays as rosters expanded.

That experience has made him comfortable with waiting a few extra days this time around.

“I have the experience of doing that already, so having the expanded roster September 1 would be more ideal for me,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I just think it would be best because you’ll get the better version of me being able to have at-bats.”