Payback for trio of White Sox in win over Yankees
You can say Kevin Youkilis, Dewayne Wise and Francisco Liriano all settled scores with the Yankees on Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
You have to say it, because none of the White Sox’ trio broke baseball’s long-standing code and trashed talked their opponent.
Rather, Youkilis, Wise and Liriano let their play do the talking, and it is safe to say the Yankees’ ears were burning after a 7-3 loss.
Let’s start with Youkilis.
During his nine seasons with the Boston Red Sox, the third baseman was a big part of all those battles with New York — most of which were televised on ESPN.
In Monday night’s 9-6 win over the Yankees, reliever Joba Chamberlain drilled Youkilis in the back with a 94-mph fastball in the sixth inning.
Youkilis whipped his bat and elbow pad to the ground before heading to first base, so that tells you something.
But before — and after — hitting a grand slam off N.Y. starter Ivan Nova in the fifth inning Tuesday, Youkilis denied there was any revenge factor.
“I’ve got nothing to say about it,” Youkilis said. “You have to go ask (Chamberlain).”
Moving on to Wise, whom the Yankees released in late July, he was 2-for-5 with a 2-run homer against his old team Monday and followed up with a career-high 4 hits Tuesday.
Satisfied?
“I’m not coming into this series trying to just go out there and, just because I played for the Yankees, try to go 5-for-5 every night,” Wise said. “Our main goal is to win the series. I was surprised (by the release), I’m not going to lie.
“I feel like I was playing well, doing what I was supposed to do coming off the bench, doing the little things to help them win.
“But it’s a business, and I understand that and things happen and you’ve got to move on.”
When he was with the Twins, Liriano faced the Yankees twice in the postseason and allowed 5 runs on 7 innings.
The White Sox’ new starter did a pretty good Gavin Floyd impression and barely made it out of the first inning Tuesday night while allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk while throwing 31 pitches.
But Liriano (5-10) settled down and didn’t allow another run before exiting after the sixth inning.
“It was a battle out there tonight,” Liriano said. “They have a pretty good lineup. Good win today. You want to go out there and give a chance for the team to win a ballgame. So that was what I was trying to do today.”
Thanks to Youkilis, Wise and Liriano, the Sox won their second straight over the Yankees and maintained their 2-game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.
“They’ve been pretty resilient about the way they go about their games, and they do a good job of going through it trying to win today,” Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “They’re happy they won, but they’re looking for tomorrow.”
sgregor@dailyherald.com