Youk blasts game-winning home run in return to hometown

Sox 6, Reds 4 (10)
WP: Papelbon (3-2)
LP: Lincoln (0-2)
SV: Hansen (1)
HRs: BOS-Youk (11), Crisp (3); CIN-Dunn (18), Phillips (13), Encarnacion (11)

SUMMARY:
After the Boston bullpen blew yet another lead, including a rare blown save by Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis capped off a successful return to his home town when he hit a home run off Mike Lincoln in the top of the 10th to give the Sox a rare and much-needed road victory.

#1 STUNNER Youk 3-5, 1R, 2BI, 2K
Is there a better way to return home, with 150 family & friends in the stands, than to hit a game-winning extra inning home run against the team you loved growing up, and that snubbed you in the draft just a few years ago?

Thought not.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Lincoln 1.1IP, 3H, 2ER, 1BB, 2K, 2HR, 29P
The Reds had all the momentum after tying the game with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, but Lincoln put out that fire quicker than you can say "longball" as he surrendered back-to-back homers to Youk and Coco in the top of the 10th.

RECAP:
"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUKKKKK!"

The familiar chant that is heard at both Fenway Park and stadiums all over the Nation every time the good-natured, high-strung Sox first baseman comes to bat or makes a great defensive play was never heard in such full throat as it was this afternoon in his return to the city he grew up in.

In a storybook game that could have been penned by George Will Kevin Youkilis came back to the Queen City in grand style this afternoon, clubbing three hits and a pair of RBI with 100+ family members and friends sitting in the stands cheering for him, each hit bigger than the one that came before it.

The scene was made all the more amazing by the fact that he had struck out in his first two at bats of the day against hard-throwing Reds righty Edinson Volquez, perhaps because he was pressing, or perhaps because Volquez is good enough to do that to anyone.

But the stubborn, chrome-domed slugger, who has toned down his post-at bat antics since a dugout scuffle with teammate Manny Ramirez a week ago, fought through the butterflies and stayed patient, and he was rewarded with an experience he will never forget for the rest of his life.

And neither will the Reds.

To give you an idea of how big Youk is in Cincy, where he grew up, went to the University of Cincinnati and owns almost all the major offensive records at the school, when my son and I went to see the Big East college baseball championship a couple of weeks ago, players on the UC team were imitating his unique batting stance while goofing around in the on-deck circle before the game.

Simply put the "Greek God of Walks" is a god a UC and universally beloved in a city that has probably produced more home-grown major league talet than any other metropolis in the country outside of New York.

So for him to do what he did today, in a game that was an awesome, back-and-forth exciting affair right til the very end, was like living out a boyhood fantasy that any kid who's ever dreamed of being a major leaguer has ever had.

But the way things had gone just minutes before his dramatic homer it didn't look like the Sox were going to have anything to celebrate today.

Not after another bullpen implosion that saw three men waste a hard-fought 4-2 lead and a spectacular effort from Tim Wakefield that nearly sent the Sox to their 22nd road loss of the year.

Boston jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead against stud starter Volquez (7IP, 7H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 9K, 101P) when Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a single, went to second on a wild pitch by Volquez, stole third after one pitch to Dustin Pedroia and trotted home when cather Paul Bako threw the ball into right field trying to gun Ellsbury out.

But Cincy tied it right up when Dunn launched his second homer in two days and 18th of the season off Wakefield in the bottom of the 2nd inning, a blow that was lessened when Brandon Phillips got greedy after stealing second and was gunned down trying to take third when the ball got away from the Boston infield.

The mistakes continued as Boston took the lead in the fourth when J.D. Drew (2-5, 2R, 2B, 3B) tripled over Dunn's head in left field and then waltzed home on another wild pitch by Volquez.

Now the score was 2-1 Boston, although both starting pitchers were pitching brilliantly.

Wakefield (7IP, 4H, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, 2HR, 89P) continued to stymie the Cincy hitters, retiring 10 out of the next 16 Reds batters while Boston added to its lead on an RBI single by Youk, driving in Pedroia who had led off the sixth with an infield single.

Staked to a 3-1 lead Wake's bugaboo - the longball - came back to bit him again when he surrendered an upper-deck shot to Phillips (2-5, R, BI) to lead off the 7th to cut the Sox lead to 3-2.

But Boston quickly recaptured its 2-run lead off reliever David Weathers when Drew led off the 8th with a double, again to the opposite field, and Mike Lowell followed with an RBI single to push the lead to 4-2.

Unfortunately a botched play by third base coach DeMarlo Hale cost the Sox a chance at breaking the game open and preventing the late-inning heroics.

After Lowell's single Youk drove a pitch from Weathers over Jay Bruce's head to deep right center, but instead of settling for runners at second and third and no outs Hale sent Lowell home all the way from first where he was easily thrown out.

Still, a 4-2 lead with just six outs to go seemed pretty solid.

Except Oki shit the bed again.

Things started out bad when Bako hit the first pitch from Oki for a leadoff single, and when Bruce walked on four pitches one out later Tito quickly went to the pen and removed the struggling Japanese lefthander.

But instead of calling on Paps for the five out save, he brought in Manny Delcarmen, who immediately gave up an RBI single to pinch hitter Javier Valentin to cut the lead to 4-3.

The only thing that saved Boston from losing the game right there was Ken Griffey Jr (0-4, BB, 2K) swinging at a 3-0 pitch and grounding into an inning-ending double play, yet another in a long line of botched and boneheaded plays in this game.

No worries, though, as all paps had to do was get three outs and this one was in the bag.

Papelbon (1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K, 1HR) got Phillips and Dunn to each ground out to second to nearly wrap things up, but then he got sloppy with Edwin Encarnacion and the third baseman ripped a 2-2 offering into the left field stands for a game-tying, shock-inducing home run, and suddenly what looked like an exhilarating victory was resembled a devastating defeat.

And the came Youk.

After Lowell struck out to lead off the 10th, Youkilis pounced on a 2-2 fastball from Lincoln and deposited it into the right field seats for the game winner, and as his teammates and cheering section celebrated Coco cracked the next pitch to almost the exact same spot for a big insurance run, and at 6-4 Sox this one was all but wrapped up.

Sorta.

Craig Hansen relieved Paps and quickly retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the 10th before Jolbert Cabrera singled to center and Junior walked, but Hansen got Phillips to fly out to Drew on the warning track for the final out, and the fans piled onto Pete Rose Way knowing they got their money's worth.

And they were all chanting Yooooooouuuuuukkkk!

RECORD: 43-28
AL EAST: Up 1.5 gms
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Sun @ CIN 1:35 Beckett vs. Bailey