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Archives for April 21, 2025

Kenyans Sweep Boston Marathon

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report by Field Level Media) – Kenya’s John Korir lost his footing at the start of the Boston Marathon on Monday morning but recovered to sprint into history, following in the footsteps of his older brother on the same track.

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Korir won the Boston Marathon in 2:04:45, 13 years after his older brother, Wesley, won in 2012. They shared an embrace at the finish line after John Korir, who also won the Chicago Marathon in October 2024, built a lead of more than a minute. His finish is the second-fastest in Boston Marathon history.

Kenyans swept the 129th running of the Boston Marathon. Sharon Lokedi shattered the women’s course record to finish in 2:17:22, 19 seconds clear of Kenyan second-place finisher Hellen Obiri.

John Korir was clipped by a runner coming out of the starting gates and landed hard on his stomach. He lost his name and number bib but the 28-year-old was on his feet quickly and barely broke stride for the next two hours.

In a sprint for second place in the men’s race, Tanzanian Alphonce Simbu crossed in 2:05:04, just ahead of Kenyan Cybrian Kotut.

Conner Mantz finished as top American male in Boston, finishing fourth with a personal-best of 2:05:08. Jess McClain claimed top American female honors and finished seventh by overtaking fellow U.S. runner Annie Frisbie in the final five kilometers of the race.

Buzunesh Deba held the women’s race record for the past 11 years before Lokedi smashed the mark by more than two minutes, 30 seconds on Monday.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Were Early to Work

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Walker Buehler allowed one run and struck out nine in seven innings to help the Boston Red Sox defeat the visiting Chicago White Sox 4-2 on Monday in a late-morning start on Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts.

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Buehler (3-1) allowed four hits, walked three and threw 100 pitches (63 strikes). Two of the four hits Buehler allowed came in the first inning, when he gave up his only run. Justin Slaten pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his third save.

Rob Refsnyder hit a home run for Boston, his first. Trevor Story had three hits for the Red Sox, while Kristian Campbell added two hits, including a two-run single.

The White Sox received a solo home run from Andrew Benintendi, who collected two of the team’s five hits. A Brooks Baldwin double in the second inning was Chicago’s only other extra-base hit.

Boston won three of the four games in series, while the loss dropped Chicago’s road record to 1-9.

White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon (0-3) surrendered four runs on six hits in six innings with four walks and four strikeouts.

Nick Maton led off the game with a single, moved to third on an Andrew Benintendi single and scored to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead on Edgar Quero’s groundout.

After Refsnyder’s solo home run tied the game in the second, the Red Sox took a 4-1 lead by scoring three times in the third. Jarren Duran doubled and scored on Trevor Story’s single to make it 2-1 before Campbell delivered a bases-loaded single that extended Boston’s lead to 4-1.

Benintendi, who began his MLB career with the Red Sox, capped the scoring when he homered against Aroldis Chapman in the eighth. It was his fourth homer of the year and just the sixth the left-handed Chapman has allowed to a left-handed hitter in his career.

Red Sox Wrap-Up Series This AM

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox will aim for a four-game series win against the Chicago White Sox when they host their traditional Patriots’ Day game on Monday morning.

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Boston won 10-3 and 4-3 in the first two games of the set, the latter coming in 10 innings. But the club wants to bounce back from an 8-4 loss Sunday in which it was shut out over the final seven frames — and got three of its runs on Wilyer Abreu’s first-inning homer — while allowing six over the final three.

“It’s baseball, that’s the way I see it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “They’re got good arms, just like everybody else, and you’ve got to play 27 outs.”

Boston has been on the wrong end of three of Chicago’s five wins this season.

Similarly, it has been an uneven start to the Red Sox career of Walker Buehler (2-1, 5.23 ERA), but he enters Monday following back-to-back solid outings, including a win at Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

In that outing, Buehler held the Rays to two runs on three hits across the first five innings of a 7-4 victory.

Sunday marks Buehler’s first career start against the White Sox, and the Boston newcomer knows that he has plenty of offensive firepower supporting him despite being held to just six hits on Sunday.

“I think we have five, six, seven guys that can have a day like (Alex Bregman) did (in my last start) and win us a game,” Buehler said. “That’s kind of what you’re looking for — that depth. Not depth in terms of, like, ‘Oh, they could get a hit today,’ but depth of guys that can take over a game.”

Rookie second baseman Kristian Campbell has quickly become a key part of that attack, going 2-for-4 with his fifth double. He’s reached base in 20 out of 21 games.

Chicago will be looking to start new streaks on Monday, having snapped a six-game skid and an 0-8 start on the road Sunday in the come-from-behind victory.

Andrew Vaughn had the biggest hit on Sunday, going 2-for-5 with a two-run homer in the eighth inning.

“These guys have been working so hard,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “We talked about it, the game — sometimes it doesn’t reward you and you have to just keep going. And that’s the mindset these guys have. That’s something everyone in the building is embracing, and it’s nice for it to pay off (on Sunday).”

After Massachusetts natives Shane Smith and Sean Burke took the ball in the two weekend games for Chicago, Jonathan Cannon (0-2, 4.42) will get a fifth crack at his first win of the season Monday. It will be the first start against Boston of his young career, though he threw three scoreless innings of relief in a win over the Red Sox last year.

The 24-year-old took a no-decision Wednesday despite striking out four and allowing just three hits over 4 1/3 shutout innings against the Athletics.

“He did a good job attacking the zone,” Venable said of Cannon in his last start. “He was able to put guys away and end at-bats. The little trouble he got into, he was able to work through.”

It was Cannon’s second scoreless start this season. Sandwiched in between, though, were two losses in which he allowed nine combined runs.

Just over a year ago, Cannon made his MLB debut. There has been plenty for Cannon to learn in the time since.

“The learning curve in (the majors) has been great,” Cannon said. “It’s been a lot at once … but just trying to take the blows and get better every outing.”

–Field Level Media