Jhoan Duran Reaches Incredible Milestone in Phillies Win Over Padres

The Philadelphia Phillies entered their series against the San Diego Padres, losing four out of five games.

All of the positive momentum that was built when Don Mattingly took over as interim manager was slowing down. They were looking to get back to their winning ways and were able to accomplish that feat in the opener at Petco Park.

Starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo threw six shutout innings to put his team in position for a win. A home run from Kyle Schwarber in the top of the first inning was the only scoring in the game until Brandon Marsh hit a two-run blast in the top of the seventh inning to make the score 3-0.

Orion Kerkering and Brad Keller threw shutout innings in relief of Luzardo, bridging the gap to Jhoan Duran. He was called upon to pitch the ninth inning and closed out the Padres for the team’s 27th victory of the season.

Jhoan Duran reaches 100-save milestone

Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jhoan Duran (59) pitches against the Boston Red Sox. — May 14, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jhoan Duran (59) pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the ninth inning at Fenway Park. | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

In the process, he accomplished an incredible feat. That was Duran’s 10th save of the season, giving him 100 for his career. He has racked up 26 of them in a Phillies uniform, providing the team with the kind of late-game dominance they were missing.

The first 76 saves of his career came as a member of the Minnesota Twins. Duran was a bright spot for a team that wasn’t winning a ton during his tenure with the franchise. They made the playoffs in 2023, but missed the postseason in 2022 and 2024 before undergoing a massive fire sale ahead of the deadline in 2025.

💯 career saves in the book for Jhoan! pic.twitter.com/yDky8vmg3Q
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 26, 2026

Despite the lack of overall team success, whenever the Twins did hold a lead late in the game, they were confident about coming away with a victory with Duran as their closer. He was excellent in Minnesota across 223 career appearances.

Along with his 74 saves, he had a 2.47 ERA in 233.2 innings pitched with 292 strikeouts, an ERA+ of 170, FIP of 2.78 and 7.7 bWAR.

In desperate need of an upgrade to the backend of their bullpen, Philadelphia acquired him on July 30, 2025, from the Twins in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Mick Abel and star catching prospect Eduardo Tait.

That's a lotta freakin saves 🕷️🔥 pic.twitter.com/5LvrBq0hGZ
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 26, 2026

Duran has been everything the Phillies could have hoped for and more. Through 39 appearances, he has racked up 26 saves with a 1.98 ERA, a 222 ERA+, 1.87 FIP and 0.991 WHIP.

Already with 1.9 bWAR, Philadelphia now has the luxury of knowing if they can essentially turn games into eight-inning affairs, knowing Duran is waiting to close things out at the end.

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