Athletics no problem for Danks

OAKLAND, Calif. - John Danks has some kind of hold on Oakland, and the left-hander refuses to attempt an explanation.

Danks pitched 6 effective innings Saturday to win his fifth straight decision on the road as the White Sox edged the Athletics 2-1.

Danks (10-5) extended his dominance of the A's, allowing 1 run and 6 hits. He walked a career-high five and struck out five. He has won all 4 career starts against Oakland, giving up 4 runs in 26 innings for a 1.38 ERA. It's his best ERA against any team.

"I don't have any secret," Danks said. "I feel like I just have better games against them. I don't know why, because they're a tough team. I'll take it. It's always good to win here in Oakland. We haven't done that over the last few years."

Danks also lowered his road ERA to 2.54, third-best in the AL.

"You never want to have 5 walks," he said. "It was a struggle, to say the least. I was 1 pitch away from every inning, except for the sixth, from having them blow the thing wide open. I'd like it to be a little bit easier next time out."

Juan Uribe had 2 hits and an RBI for the White Sox, who remained tied with Minnesota for the AL Central lead. Toby Hall also drove in a run. Carlos Quentin added 2 hits and has reached base in seven of nine plate appearances during the series.

"Every time we come here you always think something is going to happen in a negative way, and we've got to try to not think that way or say we've got to do this or that," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "It's an ugly game, but we won it. I don't know how we did it."

The Sox have had their difficulty in Oakland, dropping 28 of their last 35. They scored twice in the second and then handed the game over to the pitching staff.

"I wonder why they call this place a Coliseum," Guillen said. "Maybe every time everybody comes here, get ready to be killed. They made a couple of plays in the last couple of innings to make it interesting, but our pitching staff and our bullpen did a tremendous job to hold those guys."

Emil Brown drove in a run for the Athletics, who have not won consecutive games since July 10-11.

"We didn't get anything going," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "We had the bases loaded with no outs and again with one out and we didn't score. Those are big situations, and they are magnified when you're not scoring. Every run becomes crucial. If we get 1 or 2 more runs we'd get a few more wins."

D.J. Carrasco pitched a scoreless seventh, Matt Thornton struck out the side in the eighth, and Bobby Jenks worked the ninth for his 11th straight save and 25th in 28 chances.

"We're trying to win every game, so it's the same intensity," Hall said.