They grappled for a few seconds before the fight was quickly broken up by the flurry of teammates who joined the fray. He succeeded, but hit the ground hard as well. Youkilis, 20 pounds heavier than Porcello, held on for about 15 yards, then attempted to throw him to the ground. Youkilis grabbed him and pushed him toward the first base line. Porcello evaded the helmet, but couldn’t backpedal fast enough to evade Youkilis, who was closing in. Halfway to the mound, he took off his helmet, then, a few paces later, chucked it at Porcello. Youkilis was able to run toward Porcello without anyone attempting to hold him back. The Tigers' infielders weren’t expecting it either.
This caught the umpires and catcher Alex Avila by surprise. Youkilis turned to face the backstop, then sprinted toward the mound.
Tazawa’s plunking of Cabrera was not intentional the Japanese rookie, making his first major league start and having already allowed back-to-back singles with one out in the first inning, did not want to load the bases. Porcello clearly intended to plunk Youkilis and did so, hitting him in the upper back.
An inning after the Detroit Tigers' best hitter, Miguel Cabrera, was hit on the hand by Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Junichi Tazawa, the Tigers' 20-year-old starting pitcher Rick Porcello retaliated and went head-hunting against the Red Sox's best hitter, Kevin Youkilis.
