Tolleson hits first Orioles homer; more from Roberts

Steve Tolleson now has two major league home runs. Tolleson, starting at third base tonight, hit a two-run shot off Boston left-hander Felix Doubront in the second inning to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead. His other homer came on Sept. 26, 2010. Kevin Youkilis, who rejoined the Red Sox today after a stint at Triple-A Pawtucket, homered to center field off Brian Matusz in the fourth to reduce the lead to 2-1. A typical night for Youkilis against the Orioles. He has 22 homers and 84 RBIs in 374 at-bats against them, his best numbers against any team. Youkilis hadn't homered since April 26 against the White Sox's Philip Humber. Matusz is looking for his second consecutive quality start. He held the Royals to three runs over six innings on Thursday. Through five innings tonight, Matusz has allowed one run and two hits, walked one and struck out six. He's thrown 82 pitches, 53 for strikes. Getting back to Brian Roberts, he was asked whether he had days when he doubted whether he'd play again. "Plenty of times," he said. "When there's days when you're laying on the couch and you can't even function, you're not necessarily even thinking about baseball. There were days that didn't even cross my mind. I was just trying to get back to a normal life. And then as we continued to progress, I still had doubts about playing baseball, but I had more confidence in being able to live a productive and enjoyable life. Now I'm beginning to think that playing baseball at a high level is a reality, as well."



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