Philadelphia fired up for Phillies closer Jhoan Duran’s grand entrance

PHILADELPHIA — The lights dimmed down, the music turned up and an animated spider dashed across the video screen in right-center field. After taking the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning on a replay-reversed infield single, the Phillies had the moment they envisioned for new closer Jhoan Duran.

The announced crowd of 43,241 at Citizens Bank Park roared and held up the flashlights on its cellphones as the hard-throwing right-hander entered with a one-run lead. The team used his now-famous introduction, complete with the Undertaker gong and plenty of flames, before he ended the game in four pitches. Duran earned his first save in his first appearance as a Phillie, finishing out a comeback 5-4 win over the Tigers on a loud Friday night.

“It was pretty interesting when everybody had their phones out and the lights on,” manager Rob Thomson said. “And he was electric. I mean, four pitches. First pitch was a 98 mph split. I don’t know if I’ve seen that before. But he threw strikes. He’s calm, cool. It’s great.”

Duran, traded to the Phillies on Wednesday to give their struggling bullpen a boost, got pinch hitter Colt Keith to ground out to shortstop on two pitches. Spencer Torkelson popped out to first base on the first pitch. Riley Greene lined out to left field on the next one. All Duran needed was to fire his specialty “splinker” — a cross between a splitter and a sinker — four times.

“I didn’t throw my fastball yet,” he said with a smile.

The former Twins reliever was impressed with his first night as a home player in South Philadelphia. The fans packed into the seats to see franchise icon Jimmy Rollins and former executive Ed Wade be inducted onto the organization’s Wall of Fame in a pregame ceremony. They cheered loudly as the Phillies put up three runs in their half of the seventh to erase a 3-0 deficit and took the lead with two runs in the eighth.

The crowd lost it when its closer made his grand entrance.

“That’s an honor to me,” Duran said. “… I can say they love baseball. They do everything for baseball. I love that.”

Phillies starter Ranger Suárez was effective, throwing seven innings and allowing only four hits. His only blemish came on a three-run home run from Gleyber Torres in the third.

Philadelphia’s offense had just one hit off Detroit right-hander Jack Flaherty through six innings, but the bats pieced together a productive bottom of the seventh. The Phillies chased Flaherty with a leadoff single, later tying the game on a sacrifice fly from Bryson Stott and RBI singles from Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber.

Bryce Harper ended the inning with a strikeout as he was called out on an attempted check swing by third-base umpire Vic Carapazza, who then ejected the star for arguing. With only two innings left to play, Harper missed a lot.

The Tigers’ Wenceel Pérez hit a go-ahead home run off reliever Orion Kerkering in the top of the eighth, but the Phillies responded. Otto Kemp hit an RBI double in his second at-bat off the bench, and Stott beat out a grounder to shortstop for another run-scoring hit, which was originally deemed an out before the call was reversed.

With the Phillies on top, Harper watched Duran sprint in from the bullpen on a television inside the clubhouse.

“It looked good from my locker,” Harper said.

It was a spectacle. The building loved it. It was the sign of something new and thrilling: a lockdown guy in the ninth inning, under contract in Philadelphia through 2027.

“Fans come out and give us that support every single day, that energy, and they did that with him,” Suárez said through an interpreter. “And his entrance, I don’t know, it’s maybe one of the best entrances that I’ve seen for a pitcher to come into the game to close it out.”

Duran now has a 1.97 ERA in 50 appearances this season between the Twins and Phillies. He has 17 total saves. There will be chances for more in the regular season and, the Phillies hope, in the playoffs. At 62-47, Philadelphia now holds a half-game lead over the Mets for first place in the National League East.

After Friday’s victory, Duran wasn’t shy about his excitement for the opportunity to make his Phillies debut.

“It still feels incredible,” he said. “It’s amazing.”