BOSTON — The Red Sox reinstated Jarren Duran from his unpaid two-game suspension Wednesday and was back in the lineup, leading off and playing left field in the series finale against the Rangers.

Duran served a two-game suspension for calling a fan a homophobic slur Sunday. He apologized that evening, then addressed the media Monday. Duran had played in all of first Boston’s first 116 games before sitting Monday and Tuesday.

“I’m still kind of upset at myself and I know there’s a lot of people upset at me,” Duran said before Wednesday’s game here at Fenway Park. “So I don’t how I’m going to take today. But I’m just going to go out there and just try to focus on some baseball.”

The 27-year-old said he is unsure whether playing again will be a step at getting beyond what happened.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Duran said. “I feel like it will probably be a step in the right direction. But it’s still something I feel terrible about and I’m just gonna work better to be better for myself and for everyone around me.”

Duran said he is excited to be back with his teammates after he tried to keep his distance the past two days.

“I’ve just kind of been trying to stay away from them. I don’t want to bug any of them with this,” he said. “It’s none of their problem. So I just feel like I should leave them out of it because I don’t want to bug any of them with this.”

He said it was a difficult two days.

“I can’t really put them into words,” Duran said. “Just a mistake that I made and I had to deal with those two days by myself. And it was tough.”

LIAM HENDRIKS’ fastball was up to 93-94 mph during the live batting practice he threw Wednesday at Fenway Park, Manager Alex Cora said.

It marked his third and final scheduled live batting practice before potentially heading out on a rehab assignment. He is making his way back from Tommy John surgery that he underwent last Aug 2.

“The slider was good actually against lefties,” Cora said. “Today he got hit around a little bit but it’s encouraging, man. It’s a good fastball. It’s a different fastball than what we have in the bullpen. I’m not saying he’s going to be a guy that will come here and be the savior of the bullpen but he will contribute. If this happens, he will contribute. We’ll take care of him like we always do with our guys coming from injuries. We still have to be patient but we are almost there.”

Cora said the Red Sox need to see how Hendriks feels Thursday before deciding whether he’ll pitch in a rehab game this weekend.

AFTER A HARROWING health battle for the past week and a half, Tyler O’Neill resumed baseball activities Wednesday, hopeful that he was getting closer to returning to the Red Sox lineup.

O’Neill had a stomach virus while the team was in Kansas City. Soon after however, he also developed a dangerous infection in his leg that led to a hospital stay there for two days. After traveling back to Boston with his teammates at the end of the two-city road trip, and after being examined by Red Sox medical staff Friday, was re-admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital last Saturday morning, where he spent an additional four days.

“It was a pretty crazy last 10 days for me,” said O’Neill. “I just woke up (one morning in Kansas CIty) and my leg was blown up. Totally unexpected; no idea how it happened. I had to get on antibiotics right away, get on a drip for a little bit…Pretty scary there for a couple of days. I just got out of the hospital (Tuesday). I’m feeling a lot better. I’m happy to be back with my teammates. It feels good being around the clubhouse and being around the guys again.

O’Neill was unsure what the connection was between the virus and the infection, saying only: “I’ve had conflicting opinions on that.”

He described the leg issue as “just an infection. I don’t want to go into the details that we kind of had to go over the course of the last week.”

MARINERS: Victor Robles can earn up to $22.25 million over three seasons under his new contract with the Seattle Mariners, which guarantees a total of $9.75 million for 2025 and ’26.

Robles get a $1.25 million signing bonus as part of the deal announced Monday and salaries of $3.5 million in 2025 and $4.5 million in 2026. The 27-year-old outfielder can earn $1 million each year in performance bonuses for plate appearances: $500,000 each for 500 and 600.

In addition, his 2026 salary can escalate by up to $1 million based on plate appearances in 2025: $500,000 each for 500 and 600.

DIAMONDBACKS: Arizona demoted Alek Thomas to Triple-A on Wednesday, hoping that the outfielder can regain the batting form that made him a postseason star last year.

The 24-year-old Thomas was the team’s starting center fielder to begin the season, but strained his left hamstring in the opening week and missed roughly three months. He has hit .191 with three homers and 17 RBI since returning.

WEDNESDAY GAME

ROYALS 4, TWINS 1: Bobby Witt Jr. homered on a pitch outside the strike zone for the fourth time this season and Paul DeJong finished a triple short of the cycle, helping Kansas City avoid a series sweep in Minneapolis.

Witt homered into the left-center bullpen on a shoulder-high, full-count fastball from Louie Varland (0-5) in the third inning, putting the Royals ahead 2-0 with his 24th home run this season. The pitch was 4.07 feet above the ground, the highest hit by a Kansas City player for a home run since pitch tracking started in 2008, according to MLB Statcast.

Witt leads the major leagues with a .349 average.