in the majors, Youkilis became a regular first baseman (with 127 games at first). Until that time, he was primarily a third baseman, though he did play nine games at first base with the Red Sox in 2005, and 56 games at first base in his minor league career. Also in 2006 he played in the outfield for the first time in his professional career, 18 games in left field. Despite his inexperience in the outfield, Youkilis did not commit an error while in the outfield; he did, however, commit eight errors while playing the infield. Youkilis tied for the major league lead in sacrifice flies (11), and led the AL with 4.43 pitches per plate appearance and by hitting line drives 24% of time that he put balls in play. Also that year, Youkilis finished second in the AL in pitches seen (3,009) and percent of pitches taken (63.8), 4th in OBP with runners in scoring position with two outs (.524), 7th in bases on balls (91; the six players ahead of him averaged 41 home runs and 14 intentional walks, while Youkilis hit only 13 homers and was not intentionally walked once), tied for 7th in "bases taken" (22; advanced on fly balls, passed balls, wild pitches, balks, etc.), 8th in doubles (42) and batting average with runners in scoring position with two out (.375), 9th in walk percentage (13.8%), and 10th in times on base (259). He scored 100 runs, hit for a .325 batting average with runners in scoring position, and hit four first inning leadoff home runs. He did this despite struggling in the second half of the season with plantar fasciitis and a problematic abdominal muscle. 2007 Youkilis had a career-high 23-game hitting streak starting on May 5, 2007, and ending on June 2, 2007, in which he hit .426 (43–for–101) with 13 doubles, six home runs, 21 RBI, and a .468 OBP. At one point during the hitting streak, he had nine straight games with at least two hits (tying a Red Sox record set by Jim Rice in 1978), and became the first Red Sox hitter since Trot Nixon to hit an inside-the-park home run. During the hitting streak, on May 20, he hit what would be the shortest homer by a Sox player during the season—a 321-foot homer around the Pesky Pole. The home run would not have cleared the fence