Danks dazzles again
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- John Danks was a typical rookie major-league starting pitcher last season.
The White Sox' left-hander showed some flashes of brilliance early, struggled during the middle, and then lost his way at the end.
When it was all over, Danks was 6-13 with a 5.50 ERA. And one of the reasons the Sox weren't expected to do much this year was because Danks occupies the No. 3 spot in the rotation.
But as the 23-year-old pitcher showed again Sunday, some tough lessons have been learned.
"My goal is to not be the guy I was last year," Danks said after the White Sox beat the Devil Rays 6-0 at Tropicana Field. "Last year I was the guy that when someone would ask who is pitching, and they would say me, it was like: 'We need to strap it on and score.'
"I don't want that. I want to be the guy that the team knows is going to hold them to 3 or less runs and give them a chance to win."
Mission accomplished.
Not only did Danks give the Sox a chance to win, he almost single-handedly beat Tampa Bay while pitching 7 innings and allowing 3 hits and no walks. Continuing his maturation process by throwing off-speed pitches in any count, Danks had 8 strikeouts.
"This kid, when he's on top of his game, he's going to do good," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "The last couple of times he's been more consistent and now he's showing me he gives us a chance to win games. When you're a rookie and struggle like he did, you grow up real quick in this game. Hopefully he continues to do it. We count on him."
Not that he is counting, but Danks has thrown 14¿ consecutive scoreless innings. In his last outing, he pitched 7¿ shutout innings against Oakland.
"I'm just trying to keep us in the game, just trying to throw strikes," Danks said. "I think (Sunday) was the best ball-to-strike ratio I've had in the big leagues, and that's the goal.
"It's very satisfying to see the work pay off. You can't master this game, so you've got to keep working hard and not take anything for granted.
"So far it's been great. It's a long season, but I'm very satisfied with the way I've thrown the ball so far."
The Sox' offense was shut down Saturday night in a 5-0 loss, but Jim Thome helped turn that around a day later by going 4-for-5 and driving in 3 runs.
Batting just .172 coming in, the veteran designated hitter hiked his average to .222 after matching his career-high hit total for a game.
"It felt good," said Thome, who put the White Sox in front for good with a solo home run off Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson in the first inning. "You're trying to have good at-bats. When you're hitting .180, .170, whatever it was, you're just trying string good at-bats together. It felt good to do that and get a (win).
"We faced a good pitcher, Jackson. He has very good stuff and we were fortunate we had some pretty good at-bats. All in all it was a very good day."
White Sox 6, Rays 0
On the mound: Starter John Danks threw his second straight gem, limiting Tampa Bay to 3 hits over 7 innings. Danks has pitched at least 7 innings in consecutive starts for the first time in his career. The left-hander threw 96 pitches vs. the Rays and 68 were strikes.
At the plate: Jim Thome was 4-for-5 with a home run (No. 512 of his career) and 3 RBI. A.J. Pierzynski, hitless in his last 11 at-bats coming in, was 2-for-4 with an RBI.