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Youkilis caps comeback as Red Sox down Devil Rays

Sep 12, 2007 - 5:47 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- After getting shut out one night before, the Boston Red Sox brought their bats to the party on Tuesday.

Kevin Youkilis pounded a bases-clearing triple in the sixth inning to cap a six-run rally and power the Red Sox to a 16-10 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Mike Lowell notched four hits and scored three runs and rookies Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury hit solo homers for Boston (88-58), which maintained a five-game advantage over the New York Yankees (82-62) in the American League East.

The Red Sox offense exploded on Tuesday after being shut down by Scott Kazmir and a pair of relievers in Monday's series opener. Boston hitters pounded out 20 hits and quickly erased an 8-1 deficit with four runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and the big sixth frame.

"We have a lot of guys swinging the bat pretty well, and we never gave up on the game and that was the difference," All-Star slugger David Ortiz said.

The Devil Rays jumped on top early, building an 8-1 advantage against Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield. The veteran knuckleballer entered the contest with a 19-2 career mark against Tampa Bay, including four victories this season.

"I left the bullpen feeling good and I had good stuff," Wakefield said. "I got through the first inning and then the wheels kind of fell off for me there in the second. I have no excuses. I just didn't make enough pitches when I needed to."

But Wakefield was clearly not his sharpest in his second start back after a back injury, consistently leaving his knuckleball up in the strike zone, where the Devil Rays' hitters pounded it for 10 hits and seven runs in three-plus innings.

"Physically, I'm fine, even in the last start I felt fine," Wakefield said. "It just kind of felt strange being out there after missing a start, ten days not facing hitters."

The Red Sox got on the board with Ellsbury's shot in the third inning, which extended his hitting streak to 11 games since being recalled from Class AAA Pawtucket on September 1.

"It was nice to hit that," said Ellsbury, who celebrated his 24th birthday on Tuesday. "My family is back home watching, so I'm sure they were pretty excited."

Julio Lugo, Kevin Cash and Pedroia drove in runs in the fourth to cut the deficit to 8-5 and chase Tampa Bay starter Andy Sonnanstine. The rookie righthander was charged with five runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings while striking out three and walking one.

"Sonnanstine throws a lot of balls away, cuts the ball and throws a lot of sliders, and I tried to just stay on it as long as I could," Cash said. "I have been pulling off a lot of balls lately, but I made a nice adjustment and maybe I can keep that up."

The Devil Rays picked up a single run in the fifth to push the score back to 9-5, but Boston countered with three in the fifth on RBI singles by Coco Crisp, Lugo and Cash.

The sixth inning was Tampa Bay's downfall, as the Red Sox pounded three different relievers for six runs. Pedroia led off the inning with a solo blast to tie the score at 9-9 and David Ortiz followed with a single to left.

"It didn't start out looking real great, down 8-1 is not really the formula, but I don't think we abandoned our approach, which is easy to do when you get down a bunch and start rolling over," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "We didn't give at-bats away, we made them go to the bullpen, and then we made them continue to go to the bullpen. We kept pressure on them the whole time."

After lefthander Jon Switzer (0-1) replaced Grant Balfour, Lowell singled off the wall in left and J.D. Drew drew a walk, loading the bases for Youkilis. The No. 5 hitter drove a fastball off the wall in center for a bases-clearing triple and a 12-9 advantage.

"He had a big hit today, that triple with the bases loaded that was big for us," Lugo said of Youkilis' hit.

"We were up 8-2 twice this year and lost games and now 8-1 and lost a game, we can't do that, obviously," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We are playing at a very high level. There is a lot of positive energy going on and to get that kind of a lead here against Wakefield, we cannot give that up and that's just unfortunate. We just did not pitch well tonight."

All but one hitter in the Boston lineup turned in a multi-hit night.

"The thing that helped us the most was that everybody contributed, it was not only one guy that came up with the big hit," Lugo said. "We need everybody to contribute and that is what we did."

Ortiz and Drew each tacked on solo homers in the seventh for the Red Sox, who are now 10-4 against the Devil Rays this season.

Righthander Bryan Corey (1-0) was credited with the win after tossing a perfect sixth frame.

"I know he is a September call-up," Francona said of Corey. "He's pitched in the major leagues and we have confidence in his ability to pitch and I think it shows when we use him."