White Sox’ Danks continues to struggle

The White Sox dressed quickly and packed up for their charter flight to Detroit after losing to the Indians 7-5 on Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Field.

They seemed to be in a hurry to hit the exits, which is understandable.

It was another forgettable homestand for the Sox, who went 2-5 against Boston and Cleveland.

For the season they are 5-9 at the Cell, 7-4 on the road.

Strange, but true.

The White Sox have been hard to watch at home, and starting pitcher John Danks made more than a few in the crowd of 17,314 cover their eyes during another poor performance.

While he cut down on the rash of walks, Danks was pounded by the Indians. Over 7 innings, the left-hander allowed 7 runs (6 earned) on 9 hits, including 2 home runs. He also made 2 errors.

“It’s getting comical,” Danks said. “I don’t know. I lost the game. That’s straight up. I lost this game. They scored 5 runs tonight, and that’s a good pitcher (Indians starter Justin Masterson) on the other side. I didn’t give us a chance to win this game at all.

“About the only good thing I did was get us through seven. I don’t know. I think I’d rather me get through five and giving up a few less than go seven giving up a ton of runs. It (stinks).”

Danks biggest regret came in the seventh inning when he left a pitch up to Jason Kipnis, who played high school baseball at Glenbrook North. Kipnis crushed a 3-run homer to make it a 7-3 game.

“He wasn’t walking guys; he just got a couple up,” manager Robin Ventura said. “I think the one to Kipnis is probably the one he wants back. He got that one up (after) we just scored a run. That’s probably the one. This is better for me. He gave up some runs.”

Danks didn’t see much good in anything about his start. And he quickly cut off a question about added pressure due to the five-year, $65 million contract extension he agreed to in December.

“Granted, I understand maybe the thought and angle of that question, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Danks said. “That’s not a topic. No one has even talked about it. That’s not even a thought. The problem is I’m not making pitches and getting my (butt) kicked out there. Got to do something.”

It was a good night for the White Sox’ offense, and they had the tying run at the plate with one out in the ninth inning.

But Indians closer Chris Perez struck out A.J. Pierzynski looking and got Alex Rios on a game-ending groundout.

As Rios was running to first base, Perez started yelling. Rios yelled back and had to be separated from Perez.

“I don’t know what was wrong with him,” Rios said. “He just started yelling for no reason. I don’t know why he started yelling, and that’s it. He was yelling the whole way.”

Perez also pumped his fist a few times after striking out Pierzynski.

“Well, if he was celebrating, that was not the right way to do it,” Rios said.

sgregor@dailyherald.com