A night after Darnell McDonald made late-inning magic for the Boston Red Sox, Kevin Youkilis ended an extra-inning affair with the Texas Rangers by roping an RBI double in the bottom of the 12th-inning to lift the Red Sox to an 8-7 victory on Wednesday.
With the game tied at 7-7 going into the 12th, Red Sox pinch-hitter Jeremy Hermida struck out, but Marco Scutaro followed with a single. Scutaro advanced to second on a fly out by J.D. Drew and then Dustin Pedroia was intentionally walked. That brought up Youkilis, who drilled a 3-2 curveball off of Rangers reliever Dustin Nippert (0-2) into centerfield to bring in the winning run.
Hideki Okajima (2-1) earned the victory with an inning of perfect relief.
The Rangers built a 4-0 lead in the second inning, but the Red Sox answered with a solo home run from Mike Lowell in the bottom half. Then, Boston took the lead in the third at 5-4 when Drew belted a grand slam over the right-field fence.
The Red Sox extended their lead with a solo homer from McDonald in the fourth and an RBI single from Lowell in the fifth.
The Rangers responded in the seventh and evened the game on a three-run home run from Josh Hamilton.
Texas | Boston | |
Matt Harrison | Player | Josh Beckett |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
4.0 | IP | 7.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 4 |
5 | Hits | 7 |
13.50 | ERA | 9.00 |
Texas | Boston | |
Josh Hamilton | Player | Mike Lowell |
3 | Hits | 2 |
4 | RBI | 2 |
1 | HR | 1 |
6 | TB | 5 |
.750 | Avg | .500 |