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Red Sox Head to Cleveland

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CLEVELAND – (Staff and Wire Service Report0 – Following a successful series against the leaders of the American League East, the Cleveland Guardians take aim at the other storied franchise in that division.

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Yet to lose a series at home, the Guardians open a three-game set Friday night against the visiting Boston Red Sox, who look to avoid their third straight defeat.

Despite losing 5-1 to the first-place New York Yankees on Wednesday, Cleveland took two of three in the home set, and sit 7-2 at home.

“Obviously, we want to win every single day,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

Cleveland had won five straight prior to Wednesday, and is 11-4 after losing six of its first nine contests. The Guardians have won seven of their last nine against the Red Sox.

However, scheduled Boston starter Tanner Houck (0-2, 7.66 ERA) has a 1.78 ERA while going 1-1 in four career starts versus Cleveland. The right-hander allowed two runs and eight hits over 15 innings of his two starts against the Guardians in 2024. Overall, Houck is 1-2 with a 2.37 ERA in nine appearances, four starts, against Cleveland.

Cleveland’s Steven Kwan, batting .364 in the last 13 games, is 2-for-7 with a pair of walks versus Hauck. Fellow Guardians star Jose Ramirez, 14-for-30 with five homers and 11 RBIs in his last seven home games versus Boston, is only 2-for-13 all-time against Houck, but one of those hits left the park.

Entering this contest, Houck looks to post back-to-back strong starts for the first time in 2025. After being roughed up for 12 runs — 11 earned — and 10 hits over 2 1/3 innings at Tampa Bay on April 14, Houck yielded only a first-inning, two-run homer to Matt Thaiss, two other hits with two walks and struck out seven over six innings of Boston’s 8-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

“I’ve been scuffling, even in spring training, with delivery stuff and just getting back on track, (but) slowly just working your way through it and showing up each and every day with a good attitude, chipping away at it, is kind of the recipe for success,” Houck said.

The veteran will try to help Boston get back on track after it dropped the final two of a three-game home set versus Seattle after winning six of seven. Alex Bregman homered, drove in a pair and produced half of the Red Sox’s four hits in Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the Mariners.

Bregman is 7-for-14 with five RBIs in the last four games, and batting .320 on the season.

Mariners Score Early, Sinks Sox

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Seattle Mariners scored twice in the first two innings and held on to post their second straight win, beating the host Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Thursday afternoon.

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Mitch Garver socked a two-RBI double while Leo Rivas and J.P. Crawford had two hits apiece for the Mariners, supporting a six-inning effort from starter Bryan Woo (3-1). The right-hander struck out eight while allowing just two runs, three hits and one walk.

Alex Bregman went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs for Boston, which managed just one hit off four Seattle relievers and struck out a total of 12 times. Andres Munoz recorded his ninth save, working around a two-out walk to Triston Casas to strike out two in the ninth.

Boston ace Garrett Crochet (2-2) struck out nine over five innings but was charged with four runs on five hits and issued a career-high five walks. The left-hander threw 110 pitches.

The Mariners scored in the first inning for the fourth straight game as Garver knocked a two-out, two-run double to deep center that Boston’s Kristian Campbell misplayed off the Green Monster.

Bregman got the home team’s offense going with a solo homer out to left-center, making it a 2-1 game after the bottom of the first frame.

Seattle continued to threaten against Crochet in the second, loading the bases on a walk to Rivas sandwiched between hits by Ben Williamson and Crawford — the trio that combined for seven hits in an 8-5 Wednesday win. The next two batters brought home runs, as Dylan Moore hit a sacrifice fly and Julio Rodriguez registered an RBI groundout.

The Red Sox got a run closer when Jarren Duran hit a one-out double and scored on Bregman’s line-drive single into the left-field corner in the third. Woo then struck out two in a 1-2-3 fourth and did not allow a hit across his final three innings.

Crochet did not allow a run after the second, but he labored while stranding multiple runners in the fourth and fifth. Boston relievers Greg Weissert and Liam Hendriks worked around traffic in their innings, with Hendriks striking out Crawford to escape the seventh frame when he walked three — two after inducing a double play — and allowed a hit to Rivas.

After Bregman’s second RBI, the Red Sox were hitless until Carlos Narvaez led off the eighth with a solo homer out past the right-field foul pole — the first run allowed by Mariners reliever Gabe Speier all season.

Trent Thornton followed Speier with two outs, and second baseman Rivas tracked down a Bregman pop fly in shallow center to end the inning.

–Field Level Media

Jaylen Brown Delivers for Celtics

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report by Field Level Media ) – Boston’s Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 36 points and the Boston Celtics overcame the absence of leading scorer Jayson Tatum to beat the visiting Orlando Magic, 109-100, Wednesday in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

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Brown was 12 of 19 from the field — including 5-of-7 from 3-point territory — grabbed 10 rebounds and had five assists. Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the second-seeded Celtics, who have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Orlando used an 8-0 run to pull within five points early in the fourth quarter, but the Magic never got any closer.

Tatum, who averaged 26.8 points per game during the regular season, didn’t play in Game 2 because of a bone bruise. He was knocked to the floor while driving to the basket in the fourth quarter of Boston’s 103-86 Game 1 win on Sunday. Tatum returned to the game, but was listed as “doubtful” for Game 2 before the team’s final injury report officially ruled him out.

In his pregame press conference, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla called Tatum “day-to-day.” The Celtics went 8-2 during the regular season when Tatum didn’t play. Both losses came against Orlando.

The seventh-seeded Magic received 32 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Paulo Banchero. Franz Wagner finished with 25 points and Wendell Carter had 16.

Derrick White (17), Payton Pritchard (14) and Jrue Holiday (11) also scored in double figures for the Celtics, who won despite shooting 45.0 percent from the field.

The Celtics led 23-21 after one quarter and 50-47 at halftime. Boston had its largest lead of the game when Payton Pritchard connected on a 3-pointer that put the Celtics up 81-66 with 38.1 seconds remaining in the third quarter, but Orlando closed the quarter on a 5-0 spurt and trailed 71-61 entering the fourth.

The series shifts to Orlando for Game 3, which will be played Friday.

Crochet to the Rescue

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox will turn the ball over to the ace of 2025, starter Garrett Crochet, with another series victory on the line when they meet the visiting Seattle Mariners this afternoon.

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Crochet (2-1, 1.13 ERA) has performed like the top-of-the-line pitcher that Boston envisioned, allowing a total of two earned runs in his past four starts and just two extra-base hits all season.

“When you have guys like that, I’ve been saying all along, they stop losing streaks and they continue the winning streaks,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “That’s what he did (on Saturday).”

In that contest, Crochet pitched the first six innings of a 4-3, 10-inning win for the host Red Sox against his former team, the Chicago White Sox. He struck out seven. It was Boston’s fourth straight win at the time.

Despite his impressive stats, the 25-year-old southpaw has not been fully comfortable.

“It feels good, but I feel like I’m getting away with murder. It’s only a matter of time before I get caught,” Crochet said. “I feel like the way that I’m throwing the ball isn’t up to my (standard). It’s only a matter of time before I get burned, and I’d like to avoid that. This is not the standard that I hold myself to. I expect to have my best stuff every time out.”

Crochet’s two previous career starts against Seattle both came last season, and he went 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA. On June 13, he struck out a career-high 13 but came away with a no-decision. Counting two relief appearances earlier in his career against the Mariners, Crochet is 0-1 with a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings vs. Seattle.

Crochet looks to get the Red Sox back on the track following an 8-5 loss on Wednesday. Triston Casas hit a three-run home run for the second straight game, but Boston was held to seven hits and committed two more errors, giving the Red Sox a majors-worst 27 for the season.

The Mariners have gone 10-4 since a 3-7 start to the season, including bouncing back from an 8-3 loss in the series opener on Tuesday to force a rubber game. They have yet to lose consecutive games since the rough start.

Seattle’s bottom third of the batting order, Ben Williamson, Leo Rivas and J.P. Crawford, torched Boston for seven hits and five RBIs. Crawford belted a three-run homer that put the Mariners ahead 4-0 in the fourth inning.

Crawford is 9-for-24 over his last six games, with nine of his 10 RBIs for the season coming in that span.

“At-bats up and down the lineup were excellent,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.

Wilson will give the ball Thursday to Bryan Woo (2-1, 3.12 ERA). The right-hander has put together seven solid innings in back-to-back starts, but he took the loss to the host Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

Woo, who has not faced Boston previously, gave up seven hits and three runs to the Blue Jays. His best outing of the season came on April 12, when he allowed a run on six hits and struck out seven Texas Rangers in Seattle.

“It seems like both times he’s been able to get through seven is a time when we really needed him to do that, and that’s a huge lift for your bullpen when he’s able to do that,” Wilson said. “He just has that ability with that fastball. He can get some quick innings from contact.”

Woo will also look to follow up a strong Wednesday outing from Emerson Hancock, who struck out seven in six innings of two-run ball.

Bottom of Mariners’ Line-Up Sinks Sox

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BOSTON – Ben Williamson, Leo Rivas and J.P. Crawford combined for seven of the team’s 13 hits while forming the bottom third of the lineup, leading the visiting Seattle Mariners past the Boston Red Sox 8-5 on Wednesday night.

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The No. 9-hitting Crawford delivered the biggest blow with a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Seattle extended its lead with two more runs in both the sixth and seventh, then withstood a late comeback attempt from the home team.

Williamson was 3-for-5 with an RBI and run scored, while Rivas scored twice on a 2-for-3 night.

Seattle’s Emerson Hancock (1-1) struck out seven while allowing two runs on five hits across six innings.

Triston Casas belted a three-run homer in the eighth to make things interesting for Boston. Jarren Duran and Alex Bregman each had multiple hits for the Red Sox, who had won six of seven.

The Mariners tagged Boston’s Sean Newcomb (0-3) for a two-out run in the first as Mitch Garver scored Julio Rodriguez on a single up the middle. Newcomb escaped trouble an inning later, working around a no-outs jam that saw the bottom third of Seattle’s order load the bases on back-to-back singles and a walk. The southpaw got Dylan Moore to line into a double play before striking out Rodriguez to end the threat.

After Newcomb struck out the side to strand a runner in the third, the visitors extended their lead on Crawford’s three-run homer to right-center in the fourth. Like in the second, Williamson and Rivas set the table with knocks.

The Red Sox scored single runs in the fourth and fifth. The first one came on Romy Gonzalez’s two-out, opposite-field single that scored Trevor Story, and Rafael Devers drove in the other run with an RBI groundout.

Three of the first four Mariners singled off Josh Winckowski in the seventh, with Williamson and Crawford each driving in runs.

After the Casas homer took the game to the final margin, Andres Munoz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save.

Newcomb struck out eight in five innings.

–Field Level Media

Pritchard is NBA’s Best 6th Man

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Celtics guard Payton Pritchard continued a long time Celtics tradition on Tuesday when Boston’s sharpshooting guard was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. The Celtics weere the NBA team that coined the phrase back in the 1950s.

Pritchard received 454 total points in balloting, including 82 out of 100 first-place votes from a global media panel.

The Detroit Pistons’ Malik Beasley was second at 279 points and 13 first-place votes. The third finalist, Ty Jerome of the Cleveland Cavaliers, had 91 points and two first-place nods.

Pritchard, in his fifth NBA season all spent with the Celtics, averaged career highs of 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 80 games, coming off the bench in all but three. He was the defending NBA champions’ fifth-leading scorer in the regular season.

His 1,079 total points off the bench were the most of any reserve in the NBA this season.

Pritchard shot 40.7 percent on 3-pointers, making a career-high 255 of them (3.2 per game). He made 246 of those as a reserve, the most in NBA history.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Prep for Game 2; Tatum Doubtful

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – As the Boston Celtics prepare for Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series against the Orlando Magic, they will have to do so with the likelihood that star Jayson Tatum will not suit up on Wednesday.

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The All-Star small forward landed awkwardly on his right wrist early in the fourth quarter following a flagrant foul by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. After remaining on the floor momentarily, Tatum remained in the game and finished with 17 points in 40 minutes of action.

Despite Boston coach Joe Mazzulla initially indicating that Tatum would be day-to-day, the Celtics on Wednesday listed Tatum as doubtful for Wednesday’s Game 2 with a right distal radius bone bruise.

Tatum told reporters that his X-ray came back negative and assured fans that he was feeling better.

“I just landed on it,” Tatum said. “It was throbbing for a second, then kind of went away.”

The leading scoring for the Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals, Tatum was looking to lead Boston to a repeat title to become the first team to go back-to-back since Golden State in 2017-18.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Rollin’ at the Fens

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox are finally rolling, and they hope their first baseman might be trending in that direction, too.

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Boston will be seeking its seventh victory in eight games Wednesday in the middle contest of a three-game series against the visiting Seattle Mariners.

Triston Casas hit a three-run homer to highlight Boston’s 8-3 victory on Tuesday in the series opener. The 25-year-old first baseman entered the game hitting .158 with a .229 on-base percentage, a .237 slugging percentage, one home run and four RBIs in 21 games.

Casas delivered the home run in the seventh inning against reliever Trent Thornton, extending the Red Sox’s lead to 7-3.

“I hit the first (pitch) foul, and that typically means bad luck after that,” Casas said. “I was able to get another pitch a little more in my zone and elevate it to a part of the field that I wanted to. It was a good swing. I’m gonna look to try and carry that into (Wednesday).”

Seattle, which is seeking its fifth straight series victory, went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position during the loss.

Mariners right-hander Emerson Hancock (0-1, 12.71 ERA) is scheduled to make his third start of the season on Wednesday. It will be his first career appearance against the Red Sox.

Hancock was sent to Triple-A Tacoma one day after he failed to make it out of the first inning during his March 31 start against the Detroit Tigers. He was recalled on Thursday, and his start that day against the Cincinnati Reds was encouraging. Hancock gave up a two-run home run in the first inning, but didn’t allow a run after that and struck out four in his five-inning outing.

“It was just a really good bounce-back for him,” Seattle pitching coach Pete Woodworth said, according to MLB.com. “The Detroit start was tough because he threw the ball well and they hit — the first three guys hit — and then they got really lucky and, unfortunately, it happened very quick and he threw a bunch of pitches, so we had to move on. And then we had to make a (roster) move to provide coverage for the next series.”

Sean Newcomb (0-2, 3.63 ERA) is listed as Boston’s probable starter. The left-hander is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two career appearances against the Mariners, both of which were in relief.

The home run Casas hit on Tuesday allowed Boston to keep the back end of its bullpen fresh entering the Wednesday matchup. Left-hander Aroldis Chapman has a team-high four saves, but righty Justin Slaten has retired the last 21 batters he has faced. Slaten picked up his third save by pitching a scoreless ninth inning during Boston’s 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

Slaten’s 4.00 ERA is a bit misleading since he allowed four runs without recording an out in Baltimore on March 31. In his other nine outings this year, he has allowed no runs, one hit and no walks.

“He’s healthy,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “That’s the most important thing. Last year, he was a little bit banged up and he wasn’t honest with us. He wanted to keep grinding. We paid the price.

“Just keep him fresh. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish. Usage-wise, it’s been solid with him, but also a lot of off days. If we continue to do that, those guys (Slaten and Chapman) are going to be pitching at 98-100 (mph), and that’s bad news for the opposition.”

–Field Level Media

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.