Walker Buehler pitches Marathon Monday masterpiece in 4-2 Red Sox victory

It only took the Red Sox two hours and minutes to complete their - win over the Chicago White Sox in the annual a m Marathon Monday meeting but for starter Walker Buehler the win was several hours longer in the making Before the annual a m contest manager Alex Cora described Buehler as on-point with his preparation but noted that it takes the veteran right-hander a long time to get ready Thus ensure he had enough time to be prepare for the a m start and avoid the road closures Buehler and his family spent Sunday night in a hotel nearby He took an iPad home to scout White Sox hitters before bed set his alarm for a m left the hotel at and was already in prep mode by the time his manager got to work at a m The Sox starter s extra-mile efforts paid off Making his longest start since May Buehler pitched seven innings and held the visiting Sox to one earned run on four hits three walks and nine strikeouts While Buehler reached new season-highs in innings and strikeouts the outing was a continuation of the consistency he s shown throughout throughout April For the second time in his career he has a three-game streak of pitching at least five innings with no more than two earned runs and four hits allowed Sept -April The White Sox got a run on the board in the top of the first thanks to rookie catcher Edgar Quero s RBI-groundout but their lead didn t last long After the Red Sox wasted a prime opportunity in the bottom of the first back-to-back one-out walks by Rafael Devers and Andrew Bregman they took advantage in the following two frames Pregame Alex Cora joked that Rob Refsnyder was a good fit for the morning championship lineup because the father of two was used to walking up early It proved true in the bottom of the second when the veteran outfielder tied the battle with his first home run of the season a towering blast to the third row of Green Monster seats Boston scored their remaining three runs in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by shortstop Trevor Story and -run single by rookie second baseman Kristian Campbell Campbell finished the day for with two RBI and a walk Only games into his big-league career he already has eight multi-hit performances two shy of the MLB lead Playing both sides of the ball and playing defense the way they did as well nowadays I think it s how Major League Baseball games are won and I think we re starting to put that together a little bit Buehler reported in praise of his teammates Yet with the Red Sox going for with runners in scoring position and leaving eight men on base the tournament was still relatively close when Aroldis Chapman took the mound in the eighth to face certain former Boston batters He struck out pinch-hitter Bobby Dalbec on three pitches but Andrew Benintendi hit a - pitch just fair inside the Pesky Pole before Chapman could end the inning Justin Slaten closed out the event with a - - ninth picking up his third save of the season He also extended his streak of batters retired to The Red Sox are - all-time on Marathon Monday but hadn t won the annual morning contest since For newcomers like Buehler Campbell and Slaten it was a special introduction to one of the region s most of treasured traditions Obviously an significant day for the city and one that we need to win and we re supposed to win on this day in this place Buehler mentioned This place is really special and I don t think there was any surprise in that for us but my wife and I are loving it here and having a really good time with this group It was Slaten s second Marathon Monday with the Red Sox but he didn t pitch in last year s challenge when Cleveland shut them out - The Red Sox have won five of their last six games and are - in series play this season This includes a - record at Fenway a positive improvement for a club that hasn t posted a winning record at home since Next up the Seattle Mariners come to Fenway for a three-game set Right-hander Brayan Bello will be activated from the injured list to make his season debut in the series opener on Tuesday