A-Gone has big day in Youk's return

Kevin Youkilis returned to Fenway last night for the Chicago White Sox and was greeted with a standing ovation before his first at-bat. He singled up the middle in his first at-bat. He then proceeded to score when Adam Dunn grounded to second base. The ball was thrown over to first for the out, but Youk, in one of the great baserunning plays that endeared him to Boston fans, noticed that nobody was covering third and raced to the bag. Then Adrian Gonzalez threw the ball past Will Middlebrooks and down the left-field line, allowing Youk to score. However, Boston came back in the bottom of the inning, with Carl Crawford starting his season off with a base hit and A-Gone knocked him in with a single. 

The game stayed 1-1 for seven more innings, with Aaron Cook finishing his seven innings with only five hits allowed and an unearned run, while Dylan Axelrod threw 6 and 2/3 innings of 7-hit, 1-run ball. In the eighth, two consecutive walks by Leyson Septimo set the stage once more for Gonzalez, who drove a three-run bomb for a 4-1 lead. Mike Aviles added another, but I was ecstatic that A-Gone finally produced the way he should this year. The BoSox finished off the ChiSox 5-1. I was also extremely happy that Boston had another good pitching performance. And in fact, Aaron Cook is now the first Red Sox pitcher since 1925 to throw two starts in one season with 5+ innings and no walks or strikeouts. 

Hopefully the Sox can keep their momentum going tonight, when ace Jon Lester faces Philip Humber, who threw a perfect game this season but is making his first start since being injured. I think that Lester should be able to bear down and throw a solid game against Chicago. Also, good for Crawford and Ellsbury, who since coming back have been playing pretty well and given a much-needed boost of speed at the top of the order.