Danks deserves win, and gets it

CLEVELAND - John Danks did most of the heavy lifting in his last 3 starts, limiting the opposition to 7 earned runs in 212/3 innings.

The White Sox' left-hander had nothing to show for the effort, unless you count 3 tough losses.

"The way he's been throwing, he deserves better than 3-3 going into this game," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said.

Danks returned to the mound against the Indians on Monday night at Progressive Field and probably deserved another defeat after barely making it through 5 innings while throwing 112 pitches.

But after contributing a grand total of 3 runs in Danks' last three outings, the Sox' offense teed off on Cleveland starter Justin Masterson, scoring 4 runs in the first inning.

The rare show of support held up nicely, and the White Sox went on to post a 7-2 win.

"It was nice, nice for sure," said Danks, who entered the game with the second-best ERA (2.26) in the American League. "I wish I could have gotten deeper in the game. I threw a lot of pitches there in the fourth (inning), a few tough at-bats, a few mistakes that they hit, but it's nice to get a win.

"It's always more fun to win. I think all around we played a pretty good game."

The Sox were able to overcome sloppy errors by third baseman Mark Teahen in the fifth inning and shortstop Alexei Ramirez in the ninth, and they knocked off the last-place Indians for only the second time in seven games this season.

Teahen had the big hit in the first inning, a 2-run double. And the White Sox finished with 14 hits, raising their average from .237 to .240, which still ranks second-to-last in the league.

"Today I think is maybe the worst he threw the ball," manager Ozzie Guillen said of Danks. "But he battled all game. He didn't pitch good, but he pitched good enough to win."

Danks was much better than Masterson, who yielded 5 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings. He also threw 3 wild pitches.

"We attacked this kid pretty well," Guillen said. "We made him throw a lot of pitches."