BOSTON — It only took the Red Sox two hours and 14 minutes to complete their 4-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in the annual 11:10 a.m. Marathon Monday game, but for starter Walker Buehler, the win was several hours longer in the making.

Before the contest, manager Alex Cora described the right-hander as “on-point with his preparation,” but noted that it takes him “a long time to get ready.”

“I mentioned it to him last week, I said ‘You got the 11 a.m.,’ and he’s like ‘I’m ready for that one,'” Cora said postgame.

To ensure he had enough time to be prepare and avoid the road closures, Buehler and his family spent Sunday night in a hotel nearby and he took an iPad home to scout the White Sox hitters before bed. He set his alarm for 6:45 a.m., left the hotel at 7:15, and was already in prep mode by the time his manager got to work at 8:15 a.m.

The extra-mile efforts paid off. Making his longest start since May 8, 2022, Buehler pitched seven innings and held the visiting Sox to one earned run on four hits, three walks and nine strikeouts.

Buehler reached new season-highs in innings and strikeouts in the outing. It 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. 28, 2021-April 8, 2022). Having missed nearly two years after his ’22 Tommy John surgery, Buehler is happy to be finding his rhythm, but not yet satisfied with the results.

“At times last year I kind of had it for a second and lost it, and it’s nice to sustain it at least a little bit,” he said. “My last one was kind of a struggle, but the results looked okay, and today I think was more what that kind of middle-ground feeling start should be like for me. … The changeup wasn’t very good today, but outside of that I was pretty pleased.”

“If we can limit the walks, we’re going to be in a really good spot,” Cora said, adding that his starter’s overall performance was “amazing.”

“From my end, I’ve always been a fan. I learned the hard way in ’18,” the manager said with a chuckle, referring to how a rookie Buehler dominated the Red Sox for seven scoreless innings in Game 3 of the World Series. “We were hunting in certain areas of the strike zone, and we actually did a good job in that first inning, and then after that he flipped the script, and I think he went seven, right? I mean, very easy against probably one of the best lineups in the last 20 years.”

The morning start also got Buehler reminiscing about the last time he played such an early game.

“2017 in Double-A, against Jack Flaherty. I remember we had a SpongeBob SquarePants day that we pitched against each other in,” Buehler recalled of his eventual ’24 Dodgers teammate. “I got a hit off Jack.”

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 game 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 game 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 2-run single by rookie second baseman Kristian Campbell. Campbell finished the day 2 for 3 with two RBI and a walk. Only 22 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 today, 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 said in praise of his teammates.

“That’s the biggest thing, everybody contributing,” agreed Campbell. “Getting that chemistry down is a big deal, so I think we’ve been doing a good job of that.”

The Red Sox were, however, 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and eight men left on base, so the game was still relatively close when Aroldis Chapman took the mound in the eighth to face some former Boston batters. He struck out pinch-hitter Bobby Dalbec on three pitches, but Andrew Benintendi hit a 1-0 pitch just fair inside the Pesky Pole before Chapman could end the inning.

Justin Slaten closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth, picking up his third save of the season. He also extended his streak of batters retired to 21.

The Red Sox are 72-56 all-time on Marathon Monday, but hadn’t won the annual morning game since 2021. For newcomers like Buehler, Campbell and Slaten, it was a thrilling introduction to one of the region’s most treasured traditions.

“Obviously an important day for the city and one that we need to win, and we’re supposed to win on this day, in this place,” Buehler said. “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 team.”

Campbell so wanted to be prepared for his first Marathon Monday game that he asked “a lot of people,” including his agent, what it’s like. At game’s end, the rookie wasn’t disappointed. He noted that it felt like a sold-out game – the 34,721 paid attendance was a couple thousand shy of the threshold – and said he was excited to go watch the runners.

“It was electric,” Campbell said with his usual earnestness. “It was a great experience overall and to top it off with a win in the series is great. … To be a part of it for the first time this year is a big deal to me, and a lot of people in this club also, but I couldn’t be more excited to be here.”

“It felt different all day,” agreed Slaten, who was with the Red Sox last year but didn’t pitch in that game, a 6-0 shutout by the Cleveland Guardians. “Every single person in this clubhouse was talking about it all day. Like, yeah, it sucks you have to come in here and play at 11, but they don’t want to play at 11 either, and we got the whole entire city on our side, so we felt really confident about what we were going to do today.”

The Red Sox are 4-3 in series play and 13-11 on the season, including five wins in their last six games. They’re also 7-4 at Fenway, a positive development for a club that hasn’t posted a winning record at home since 2022.

And on Marathon Monday, especially, there’s no place like this home.

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