After Youkilis's triple tied the game in the third, Mike Lowell pounded an inside fastball over the left-field wall for a three-run homer in the fifth.
TWINS 8, CUBS 7 After Justin Morneau's run-scoring triple tied the game in the ninth, Josh Willingham won it for host Minnesota with an R.B.I. single in the 10th.
So it was notable that Freese got things going with a two-run homer in the second, his first postseason homer since his 11th-inning blast to win last year's World Series Game 6 — the same game in which his two-run triple tied it with the Cardinals down to their last strike.
Hanley Ramirez continued to punish the ball, with a single, a double and a triple, tying the club's series record with six.
This season, he is hitting.319 with a team-leading 11 home runs, a National League-best 8 triples (tied with his teammate Jean Segura) and 13 steals.
He was caught stealing bases (six) more times than he stole successfully (five), but in only 42 games, he managed to tie for second in the league with nine triples (tied again with Thurston behind Brian Bixler's 10).
He spent the entire 2006 season with the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings of the International League, batting.236 with them in 116 games and tying for second in the league with nine triples (tied with Joe Thurston behind Wayne Lindon's 12).
He finished fifth in the league with 91 runs scored, tied for second in the league with 10 triples (tied with Trent Oeltjen and Nate Schierholtz behind Tim Raines, Jr.'s 13), and led the league with 29 stolen bases.
He ranked seventh in the league in batting average (among qualifiers), first in games, second in hits (to Jordan Brown), fifth in doubles (tied with David Smith), fifth in triples (tied with Clete Thomas and Michael Spidale), and third in RBI (behind Jeff Larish and Oscar Salazar).
In 124 games for the Mud Hens, Ross batted.287 with 135 hits, 35 doubles (tied for sixth in the International League with Andy Abad and Luis Rodríguez), six triples (tied for fourth with Ross Gload and Coco Crisp), 20 home runs (tied for third with Brandon Larson behind Fernando Seguignol's 28 and Ernie Young's 21), 61 RBI, and 15 stolen bases.
In 127 games (10th in the league), Ross batted.276 with 84 runs scored (fifth), 133 hits (eighth), 34 doubles (second to Matt Padgett's 37), five triples (tied with eight other players for seventh), 15 home runs (tied with Jason Jones for eighth), 80 RBI (seventh), and 28 stolen bases (tied with Josh McKinley for eighth).
