Andrew Vaughn hits 2-run HR: White Sox beat Red Sox 8-4 to end worst road start in team history

BOSTON (AP) — Andrew Vaughn hit a two-run homer, pinch-hitter Edgar Quero added a go-ahead, two-run single and the Chicago White Sox snapped a six-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox Sunday, ending their worst road start in team history.

Matt Thaiss added two-run shot for Chicago, which lost its first eight road games.

Wilyer Abreu hit a three-run homer for the Red Sox, who had their four-game win streak halted.

After pinch-hitter Brooks Baldwin’s run-scoring safety squeeze sliced it to 4-3 in the seventh, Quero delivered his single up the middle.

Coming off the worst start by a Red Sox pitcher in nearly 63 years when he gave up 12 runs in just 2 1/3 innings at Tampa Bay on Monday, Tanner Houck allowed Thaiss’ wind-aided two-run homer in the first inning before putting up zero runs over the next five.

Brandon Eisert (1-0) got five outs to earn his first major-league victory.

Red Sox reliever Zack Kelly (1-1) didn’t retire a batter and was charged with three runs.

Abreu’s shot into Chicago’s bullpen off Sean Burke made it 3-2 in the first.

The 25-year-old Burke, who grew up an about an hour away in Sutton, Massachusetts, gave up four runs, one earned, over five innings.

Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks pitched in his first major league game since June 9, 2023, giving up Vaughn’s two-run homer in the eighth.

Houck lowered his ERA from 9.16 after his initial four starts to 7.66.

RHP Jonathan Cannon (0-2, 4.42 ERA) is set to start for the White Sox against Red Sox RHP Walker Buehler (2-1, 5.23) on Monday morning with a scheduled 11:10 a.m. first pitch in Boston’s annual Patriots’ Day game.

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Boston Red Sox's Alex Bregman, left, and Rafael Devers, right, celebrate after scoring on a three-run home run by Wilyer Abreu in the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Chicago White Sox's Sean Burke delivers a pitch to a Boston Red Sox batter in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Chicago White Sox's Jacob Amaya, right, steals second base as Boston Red Sox shortstop David Hamilton, left, tries to tag him in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Chicago White Sox's Sean Burke delivers a pitch to a Boston Red Sox batter in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Boston Red Sox's Tanner Houck winds up for a pitch to a Chicago White Sox batter in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Chicago White Sox's Edgar Quero hits a two-run single in the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord who murdered a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy’s mother in a vicious hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.

The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened.

Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy’s mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.

Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives.

“He could not escape,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors at trial. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”

The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before returning a verdict. Czuba is eligible for a minimum prison sentence of 20 to 60 years or life, according to the Will County state's attorney's office.

Prosecutors declined to comment ahead of Friday's hearing and have not said what sentence they will seek. Illinois does not have the death penalty.

The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.

Czuba did not speak during the trial. His defense attorneys argued that there were holes in the case. His public defender, George Lenard, has not addressed reporters and declined comment ahead of the sentencing.

Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

She said there were no prior issues in the two years she rented from the Czubas, even sharing a kitchen and a living room.

Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. He later confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.

“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen, who testified in English and Arabic though a translator.

Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house, sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.

Separately, lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Odai Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them. The U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.

FILE - Wadee Alfayoumi's father, Oday Al Fayoume, seated right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadee at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Ill., Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County, Ill., courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)