Red Sox, Gonzalez, Spoil Youkilis's Return (46-44)

Cook was great but did not receive a
win last night

Last night's game was an unlikely pitching duel with Aaron Cook going up against youngster Dylan Axelrod. However, it certainly didn't start out that way for either team. With one out in the top of the first inning, familiar face Kevin Youkilis came up and received a huge standing ovation from the home fans. Afterwards, he worked out a long at bat before singling up the middle. Youkilis showed his all out hustle on the next play as Adam Dunn hit a slow roller to second. Pedro Ciriaco threw it to first to record the out as usual, but as a part of the shift they had played on Dunn-- nobody was covering third. Youkilis took sight of this and took off for third, Adrian Gonzalez's throw to the nearest man was errant and Youkilis scored. In the bottom of the first with one out, another familiar face-- Carl Crawford came up and singled up the middle. After a David Ortiz single brought him to third, he would tie the game on a line to right by Adrian Gonzalez to make it 1-1.

Gonzalez had a huge home run

However, Aaron Cook (who wasn't deserving of that run anyway) and Dylan Axelrod both settled down tremendously after that point. The score was still 1-1 when Axelrod was taken out after 6.2 strong innings of work and when Cook was taken out after 7. However, the Red Sox were not so kind against the White Sox bullpen in the following innings. After a pair of walks to lead off the eighth against Leyson Septimo, Adrian Gonzalez stepped up to the plate. He displayed some of that power that we acquired him for when he crushed a pitch over the deep part of the Green Monster to give the Red Sox a 4-1 lead. However, David Ortiz was injured rounding second and is having an MRI today-- we all hope the best. Anyways, a Mike Aviles RBI single later in the inning would score the final run to close out a strong 5-1 win.

Bright Spots:
Aaron Cook- 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER
Vicente Padilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, W (3-0)
Alfredo Aceves- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB
Carl Crawford- 1-3, 2 R, 1 BB
David Ortiz- 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB
Adrian Gonzalez- 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI
Cody Ross- 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B
Mike Aviles- 1-4, 1 RBI
Pedro Ciriaco- 3-4, 1 2B

Dull Spots:
Jacoby Ellsbury- 0-4, 1 K, 3 LOB
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-4, 3 K, 4 LOB
Will Middlebrooks- 0-4, 2 K, 1 LOB

Player of the Game:
Adrian Gonzalez- If not for Gonzalez, the Red Sox may not have even won this game as he went 2-4 with two of the biggest hits of the night-- an RBI single and three-run homer, he is now .288/7/50.