Danks pulls his weight as Chicago White Sox blank Orioles
If the White Sox hope to get back into the playoff picture, they're going to need help from the entire roster.
John Danks has been one of the Sox' bigger failures over the disappointing first half of the season, but the left-handed starter pitched in Friday night in the Sox' 1-0 win over the Orioles at U.S. Cellular Field.
"We all have to pull our weight," Danks said after allowing 5 hits in 7 innings. "That certainly includes me, and maybe even a little more than some of the other guys. I haven't played as well as I would have liked.
"I also said that we've dug ourselves a deep hole but there's a lot of the season left. If we can start playing consistent baseball, each doing our jobs, we might find ourselves back in this thing."
The White Sox (35-42) have won three in a row, but they're still in last place and need to reel off many more wins to reach contender status.
If Danks can pitch like he did against Baltimore, it would only help the cause.
"He still had a couple misses," catcher Tyler Flowers said. "I think he knows what he needs to do. When he stays on top, all his stuff's better. His changeup's better, his command's better, his breaking ball's better, his cutter's better."
Jose Abreu's home run off Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez in the third inning accounted for the game's lone run.
"Josey has the big homer, and it just takes one when guys pitch like that," manager Robin Ventura said. "But we need to be a little more consistent offensively and let it fly a little bit. You have to find the fastball and get on it. (Jimenez) has just got great movement. There are not too many guys that have his movement."
Sale vs. Buehrle
After logging 44⅓ innings in June and striking out 75 while winning American League Pitcher of the Month honors, White Sox ace Chris Sale is getting a well deserved extra day of rest.
Instead of starting against the Orioles on Sunday - Carlos Rodon now gets the call - Sale is going Monday night against the Blue Jays at U.S. Cellular Field.
Considering former Sox great Mark Buehrle is scheduled to take the mound for Toronto, it is a dream matchup.
"We didn't do it because of that, but you now notice it," manager Robin Ventura said. "It could be a quick game."
The White Sox have exercised extreme caution with Sale since he joined the starting rotation in 2012, and this is just a continuation.
"This isn't anything to do with him health wise, he's not complaining about anything," Ventura said. "It's just being able to take care of Chris. He doesn't care one way or the other. I think if he cared it would have probably been maybe a something little different. It's just more of being able to give him an extra day."
Sale detests talking about his personal accomplishments, but he is proud of being named the AL's top pitcher for June.
"It's cool," Sale said. "It's something to kick around, talk about, later on down the road. I definitely appreciate it, people looking at what we've done together with Flow (catcher Tyler Flowers) this past month. There's a lot of hard work that goes into it so it's nice to see that it's paying off for both of us."
When he faces the Jays, Sale has a shot at striking out 10 or more in 9 straight starts, which would be a major-league record for a single season.
"If you ask any pitcher he'll say that striking guys out is fun," Sale said. "You don't go out there with the mindset of 'Hey, I'm going to try to strike everyone out.' But when you do it's satisfying."