Hurting Red Sox down but far from out

As Terry Francona talked about how his wounded, depleted ballclub has been doing its best to stay in contention, Boston's cleanup hitter was undergoing surgery that will keep him out for the rest of the season.

As if injuries to Mike Cameron, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek and Dustin Pedroia - among others - had not taken enough of a toll this year, Kevin Youkilis (.307, 19 homers, 62 RBIs) has been lost with a right thumb adductor muscle tear.

Plus lefthanded setup man Hideki Okajima was put on the disabled list Friday with a calf injury.

And even after Friday night's 6-3 win over the Yankees, the Sox are in a precarious position: five games behind the AL East-leading Yankees and 41/2 behind the wild card-leading Rays.

But Francona is far from a "woe is me" manager, and his ballclub responded in kind Friday night. Clay Buchholz got his 12th win, pitching 71/3 innings of three-run ball. He allowed nine hits, but seven were singles.

"Buch was tremendous," Francona said. "Any time you look up and get that deep in a game, you're doing something right . . . He's all the things that you hope with young pitchers, and when you see it happening, it's exciting.''

With Cameron, Youkilis, Pedroia, Varitek and Okajima currently on the disabled list, the Red Sox have had to get surprising contributions from unlikely sources to stay relatively close to the Yankees and Rays.

Enter recent call-up Ryan Kalish, a graduate of Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank, N.J. With family and friends in the stands, he hit his first career home run, a two-run shot off Javier Vazquez on the first pitch of the at-bat, an 85-mph fastball.

"It's wild," Kalish said. "When I hit it, I knew it had a chance. And then when I knew it got out, I remember saying to myself, 'Is this real?' Like just for a second, it kind of felt unreal.''

Kalish is not the only Red Sox player who has contributed lately. Lowell was activated Tuesday, the same day Youkilis went on the DL, and homered on the first pitch he saw. He was 1-for-4 and scored two runs Friday.

Darnell McDonald, who's bounced around from minors to majors and back in his career, is hitting .258 with six home runs in 83 games. He has started more games (57) than Opening Day outfielders Cameron and Ellsbury combined (55).

The Red Sox have had to look anywhere they can for offense, even working out former Met Carlos Delgado on Friday. But for one night, at least, everything worked, if not easily. Said Buchholz: "It was exhausting."