Rangers 4 - 5 White Sox
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Youkilis lifts ChiSox over Rangers

Jul 5, 2012 - 5:22 AM

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Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - The South Side of Chicago has embraced Kevin Youkilis fairly quickly.

After smacking his first homer with his new club Tuesday, Youkilis provided the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning Wednesday, lifting the White Sox to a 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers in the middle installment of a three-game set.

Alejandro De Aza grinded out an eight-pitch walk off of Mike Adams (1-3) to start to 10th. De Aza fouled off a pitch off his knee during the at-bat and stayed on the ground for several minutes.

"Once he fouled that ball off, it was like icing a kicker," Adams said. It kind of got me out of rhythm a little bit.

After De Aza stole second, he raced home when Youkilis ripped an 0-2 pitch for a single to left.

Youkilis was mobbed by his teammates near the pitcher's mound while the rest of the spectators at U.S. Cellular Field broke into chants of "Youk! Youk! Youk!"

The 33-year-old was rather unimpressive during his first seven games -- all on the road -- with Chicago since being acquired from the Boston Red Sox on June 24.

He was just 6-for-26 (.231) on the road trip, but he's contributed plenty of fireworks during his first homestand.

Youkilis went 3-for-6 with four RBI and three runs scored during Tuesday's 19-2 shellacking of Texas and followed that with a 2-for-4 effort Wednesday.

"I had a little rut baseball-wise and statistically and a funk and hopefully this will be a thing where I can keep going forward and playing better ball," Youkilis said.

Addison Reed (2-1) picked up the win following a 1-2-3 top of the 10th.

Alex Rios and Alexei Ramirez added a pair of hits and a run scored for the White Sox, who have won six of their last eight games.

Josh Hamilton belted his 26th homer of the season for Texas, which has dropped three straight on the heels of a five-game winning streak.

Michael Young's two-run double and Nelson Cruz's RBI single in the opening frame helped Texas jump out to a 3-0 lead, but Chicago retaliated in the second as RBI singles by Dayan Viciedo and Ramirez, and a two-run double by Gordon Beckham vaulted the White Sox to a 4-3 advantage.

The Rangers battled back and tied the game up 4-4 in the third when Hamilton launched an 0-2 fastball deep into the seats in right.

Game Notes

White Sox starter Dylan Axelrod surrendered four runs on seven hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings, while Texas starter Scott Feldman allowed four runs on six hits and a walk in six innings...The White Sox were 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position, while the Rangers finished 2-for-4.






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