Things picked up after takedown

The Red Sox were kick-started by Youk’s five-star nutty. Trailing, 3-0, when Youkilis got plunked, they rallied to beat the Tigers, 7-5. But a price will be paid. Sometime soon, the Sox are going to lose Youkilis for a while.

“He’ll be suspended, I’m sure,’’ general manager Theo Epstein acknowledged in the clubhouse after midnight. “He was thrown at. He’s been thrown at a lot. Hopefully, they [Major League Baseball suspension czar Bob Watson] will take all the factors into consideration. Hopefully it will be for a short period and our depth will pull us through.’’

The depth was there last night. Mike Lowell, the man who replaced Youkilis, wound up hitting a pair of home runs.

We’ve been waiting for something like this to happen. There was beanball tension over the weekend in New York. Dustin Pedroia got hit in the first game of the New York massacre and Ramon Ramirez was ejected Saturday for hitting Alex Rodriguez. Yankee manager Joe Girardi said, “We expected something to happen and I think it happened.’’

Back home Monday night, with temperatures rising, there were three hit batsmen in the first game of the Tigers series. Brad Penny and Ramirez each hit a Tiger and Youkilis was plunked by Edwin Jackson.

It continued last night when Sox rookie Junichi Tazawa hit Miguel Cabrera while giving up three runs in the first. Porcello came close to hitting Victor Martinez in the bottom of the inning. When Porcello drilled Youk to start the second (he’d hit only one batter in 20 starts), it was Game On. Youkilis has been hit 10 times this year and decided he’d taken enough.

“In the first inning there was a ball up on Victor,’’ said Youkilis. “Then I got a ball up and in on the numbers. Up high. It looked like there was intent there. Two days in a row, I get hit. It’s something I’ve never done before and never thought of doing. I lost my control there . . . I felt like I had to do what I had to do.’’

Any regrets?