PHILADELPHIA — He had driven hundreds of miles Friday to bring his 13-year-old son to a baseball tournament in Louisville, and it was almost 9:30 p.m. by the time Dustin Morse arrived at his hotel. That is when Jhoan Duran introduced himself to a new city with flames and spiders and a song that everyone whistled into the night.
Moments later, the first messages appeared on Morse’s phone.
“Wow,” a colleague said. “You traded the entrance.”
“Yeah,” Morse said. “I had to.”
Morse, the Minnesota Twins’ vice president of communications, found the videos on social media. There it was, an almost exact replica of the eye-popping entrance the Twins had created with Duran to use at Target Field. The Undertaker’s bell. The ballpark lights going dark as fans shine their phone flashlights. The song — a custom remix by a Minnesota DJ of “El Incomprendido” by Farruko and “Hot” by Pitbull and Daddy Yankee. The flames on the LED ribbon boards. The crawling tarantula across the screens.
JHOAN DURAN IS HEREpic.twitter.com/papYMfAqIr
— Barstool Philly (@BarstoolPhilly) August 2, 2025
More Twins staff members sent Morse messages. Sam Henschen and Jeremy Loosbrock, who Morse said oversaw a project that took 500 hours over a few years, were happy and sad. They were the ones who made it what it was, who had the idea to incorporate fans with their phones. The team’s president messaged Morse to reiterate what they all knew.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Morse said. “We did the right thing here.”
In 2025, when a team trades for a closer, it is trading for the entire experience. Duran is one of the best ninth-inning men in the sport, and his entrance in Minnesota became part of his ethos. Soon after the Phillies acquired him Wednesday evening, Duran had a call from Morse. Morse had too many of these calls to make as Minnesota stripped its big-league roster in a fire sale. “But his was different,” Morse said. The two had grown close as Duran morphed from a little-known prospect into a force.
“What do you want to do?” Morse asked Duran.
His trademark entrance was too good to leave behind, Duran said. Morse agreed. He took the idea to top officials in the Twins organization.
“We collectively thought,” Morse said, “‘This is for the greater good of baseball fans.’ This is a fun atmosphere. All baseball fans should get to see it and experience it. We all know that the atmosphere at Citizens Bank is already nuts. This would go over well.”
The next morning, Twins and Phillies game-presentation officials connected. “We decided to give them everything we could give them,” Morse said. The Phillies had 36 hours to recreate Duran’s entrance, and it manifested in an unforgettable moment with an announced crowd of 43,241 packed inside the ballpark. Duran needed four pitches to record his first Phillies save.
Morse texted Duran at 10:55 p.m. It had been a long day for both of them, albeit on different sides of the transaction. Morse did not expect a response. He just had to say it.
“Wow, I’m so proud of you. Entrance looked amazing.”
“Thank you so much, Dustin,” Duran wrote back. “Thank you for being a part of that creation.”
Jhoan Duran makes his signature entrance for the Twins in 2023. (David Berding / Getty Images)
Whenever the Phillies build a new ballpark feature, they have someone program it so all it takes is one button to initiate the light show, scoreboard graphics and music. They did not have enough time to properly program Duran’s entrance. So, inside the scoreboard operations room Friday night, everyone had a task. Mark DiNardo, the club’s director of broadcasting and video services, took the button that would kill the ballpark’s lights once Duran exited the bullpen.
The touch screen froze.
“At that moment, your heart’s in your throat,” DiNardo said. “But you’ve got so much adrenaline going into that moment.”
The lights didn’t go dark when they were supposed to. Finally, a few seconds late, the button worked. Every other component fired as expected.
From the opposing dugout, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had a familiar feeling. Duran, a divisional nemesis while with Minnesota, has a career 0.56 ERA against the Tigers. They had seen this entrance before at Target Field. How did it compare?
“I hate all of them equally, because it means we’re behind, and it means it’s a really hard time to score,” Hinch said. “But that was pretty electric here. I mean, everybody does a really good job with that, but this one in particular … probably about as good of an entrance to a new team in a new circumstance.”
Duran’s new teammates could feel it. Even a day later, they were still talking about it. The fans were the same. Duran felt the love.
“I can see they love baseball,” he said of the fans. “They do everything for baseball. I love that.”
The Phillies had never done anything like that inside Citizens Bank Park.
“We absolutely knew something special happened (in the) moment,” DiNardo said. “Then, in this day and age, your phone starts blowing up. It’s from people watching the game. Then you’re getting calls a half hour after the game saying, ‘Oh my God, it’s blowing up on social media.’ That’s icing on the cake. For us, it was critical that we got it right for the guy in the ballpark.”
DiNardo’s staff had been thinking about Duran the whole week. They followed the trade rumors, and they knew Duran had this special entrance in Minnesota. But they also had three documentaries to produce for this weekend’s annual Phillies alumni events that honored Dick Allen, Jimmy Rollins and Ed Wade.
DiNardo called a Zoom meeting Thursday morning with Emily Rutzen, Dee Kelchner, Sydney Worek and Arianna Krizek — all producers and graphic designers. They knew the task.
“We have to do this,” DiNardo said. “This has to be done. And at the very least, we have to replicate the experience that they’ve had in Minnesota.”
Soon after, DiNardo and Henschen, his counterpart in Minnesota, connected through email. The Phillies were trying to recreate Duran’s song with their own DJs. They were rendering graphics. They needed more time than they had.
Then, the Twins sent all of the digital assets they had — including the original song track. The trade was done.
“We were able to pull it off,” DiNardo said, “in a ridiculous timeline.”
There were missing elements; the Phillies did not have a video to run with the entrance because there were no clips of Duran in a Phillies uniform. That will come. The faux Liberty Bell in right-center field turned orange. Next time, it’ll have animated flames. The foundation was there.
“It’s a great baseball story of teams working together to help keep the experience what it should be,” DiNardo said. “They were very eager to help because I think they respected Duran a lot. They were proud of what they had done. We will take this and put our own fingerprints on it, as well.”
DiNardo’s staff stayed late Thursday night to test it. They continued tinkering all day Friday. But, as the Phillies trailed most of Friday night, they were not certain the moment would arrive.
The Phillies trailed for most of Friday night’s game, finally taking the lead in the eighth to set up Jhoan Duran — and his entrance — for the first time. (Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)
Jimmy Sulimay has worked Phillies broadcasts for 20 years; he started as an intern at Comcast SportsNet. He is usually positioned near the Phillies dugout. But, after numerous pregame meetings, he was designated as Duran’s tail. Later in Friday’s game, Sulimay relocated under the stands in the right-field corner. The Phillies trailed by three runs, then tied it, then surrendered another run.
DiNardo had been in contact with Phillies baseball operations officials; they had never sent a cameraman into the bullpen during a game here. It’s become popular in New York when an SNY cameraman tails Mets closer Edwin Díaz from the bullpen to the mound. The Phillies didn’t want Sulimay to disrupt the tight space in the bullpen unless necessary.
“Should we send him?” DiNardo asked in the top of the eighth.
“I don’t know,” a high-ranking Phillies official said.
“Send him!” DiNardo said. “I’m going to send him.”
Sulimay darted into the bullpen in the middle of the eighth and crouched near the steps that led to the visitors’ bullpen. The Phillies scored two runs. Sulimay started to film Duran.
“All these shots are brand-new, even him warming up,” Sulimay said. “And then, boom, last out. Here it comes. This is what everyone’s been waiting for. Just get the shot for everybody. Because everyone’s going to be watching and talking about it. So get the shot. Don’t trip. Don’t run into anything. Keep it as steady as you can and just try to keep up with him.”
NBC Sports Philadelphia shifted some advertisements so they could potentially skip a commercial break and stay live with Sulimay’s camera. The scoreboard operations people had also moved end-of-inning ads so they could display instructions: “Phones out, lights on.”
“From this point forward, everybody will know to do that,” DiNardo said. “We won’t have to run that message anymore.”
Sulimay had clear directions. He could only follow Duran to a certain spot.
It had to be Friday, Sulimay thought. Saturday was a day game; it wouldn’t be dark if Duran had a save chance. And Sunday is an ESPN game. After Bryson Stott beat out a go-ahead infield single, Sulimay focused. He kept pace with Duran.
“It was just exciting for everyone,” he said. “The workers, the fans, everyone at home watching TV. Us bringing it to them. It was amazing. It was exciting for me, but I was just so locked in on making sure I get this shot. I’m out here for a reason — for that shot.”
NBC Sports Philadelphia cameraman Jimmy Sulimay runs behind Jhoan Duran as he shoots the Phillies closer’s first entrance from the bullpen. (Chris Szagola / Associated Press)
Morse’s career in baseball started in San Diego, back when Trevor Hoffman entered the ninth inning to AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells.” It’s one of the classic closer sequences. So, even before Duran became Minnesota’s closer in 2023, Morse had wanted to create something like it for the modern age.
He’d drive around listening to Pitbull’s Globalization Radio, a station on SiriusXM. He worked with Duran and DJ Skee, a Minnesota native, on the mashup that became Duran’s song. Morse had heard that minor-league teammates called the hard-throwing righty, “Durantula.” That was trademarked, but the spiders became an essential piece of the theme.
But the bell was Duran’s idea. He’s a WWE aficionado. A few years ago, he sent Morse a photo of The Undertaker. “Can we add the bells?” Duran asked. This was it.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence Duran was traded to a team that has a giant bell hanging in the outfield.
“I didn’t even think of that,” Morse said. “It’s a perfect fit. It’s perfect.”
No words. pic.twitter.com/l7L93RKahP
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 2, 2025
Duran once told Morse he threw harder after the entrance. “I honestly think it was a showstopper for the visiting team and those first few hitters that knew they had to face Duran,” Morse said. “I mean, it’s a little intimidating.” There was an edge; Morse could feel it through the screen Friday night as he watched the show’s debut in a new ballpark.
“It’s emotional to sit there,” Morse said, “when you’re kind of in a quiet hotel room, far away from any baseball, and you’re just like, ‘Yeah. I knew it would be great.’”
The Twins are rebuilding; they hope Mick Abel and Eduardo Tait, who were traded for Duran, are part of the next great Minnesota team. The Phillies have the highest expectations. It was a sensible baseball trade, and it was only fair to toss in the show.
So, earlier in the week, Morse and other Twins staffers savored the last Duran entrance at Target Field.
“I knew what was coming,” Morse said. “I’m usually making my way down to the field for the postgame interview, but I sat in the press box and wanted to watch the last one.”
That was closure. So was the message from Duran late Friday night. One of the biggest Phillies’ deadline deals was officially completed when the lights went out, Duran’s song blasted, and the whole thing went viral.
“The two organizations get it,” Morse said. “I mean, we all kind of work together to entertain and put forward the best show possible. … You try to one-up each other, right? But at the end of the day, we’re all just trying to make it enjoyable for fans.”
(Top photo: Chris Szagola / Associated Press)
