Red Sox swiftly dole out Jarren Duran’s punishment for homophobic slur: Is it enough?

Sunday was supposed to be a good day for Jarren Duran, who was honored as the Boston Red Sox Heart & Hustle Award winner before their game.

Instead, Duran found himself in Sunday's news for all of the wrong reasons. Not only did he go 0-for-3 in a 10-2 loss to the Houston Astros, but he was caught using an anti-gay slur during his at-bat in the sixth inning of Sunday's game.

A fan was chanting “Tennis racket, tennis racket, you need a tennis racket” to Duran in the middle of his at-bat, and evidently that was enough for him to snap.

Duran released a statement through the Red Sox after Sunday's game apologizing for using the slur, but it felt as if more was coming. Sure enough, Duran was suspended for two games, starting in Monday's series opener against the Texas Rangers.

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Jarren Duran suspended two games for using homophobic slur

When deciding whether this suspension is long enough, leaning on past precedent makes sense. Then-Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar was suspended for two games back in 2017 for using an anti-gay slur in the outfield. Based on precedent alone, suspending Duran two games for this makes some sense.

In the grand scheme of things, two games should be a reasonable enough punishment for Duran to hopefully reflect and learn from this mistake. Two games might not feel long enough for many, but it's certainly better than Duran issuing an apology and getting away with what he did without any sort of punishment at all.

Duran is in the midst of a breakout season in which he has posted a .853 OPS in 116 games and even won the All-Star Game MVP award, but this incident has put a damper on that season in the blink of an eye.

Duran's suspension will be unpaid and the money he lost due to the suspension will be donated to PFLAG (Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). He has to miss the games and the money he loses as a result of what he did is going to the right place.

It's fair to say that the suspension isn't long enough, but it's better than nothing and isn't anything less than past precedent. All we can really hope is that the right lessons are learned.