Santos backs up another strong outing by Danks

John Danks deserves the lion's share of the credit for the White Sox' 3-0 win over the Tigers on Thursday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field.

The left-handed starter pitched his best game of the season, limiting Detroit to 1 hit over 7 innings.

But manager Ozzie Guillen said Sergio Santos was the key factor in the win.

Relieving Danks in the eighth inning, Santos got himself in a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning of a 2-0 game and the Tigers had just one out.

The rookie right-hander got Ryan Raburn on a pop fly for the second out and after the dangerous Miguel Cabrera worked the count full, Santos struck out the American League RBI leader on a changeup.

"The only way you will get that experience is by going through it," said Santos, who is looking like the Sox' future closer with Bobby Jenks on the trade block. "I don't want to see those experiences too often, but luckily I've been able to come out unscathed."

As for Danks, he delivered a strong effort after being roughed up by the Indians in his previous start.

"It's good to out there and get a little bit deeper in the game, give us a chance to win," Danks said. "And you can't say enough about Sergio there in the eighth. That's a tough situation for anybody, having to bear down and get out of that inning. It was huge."

Ageless wonder: Not only did Omar Vizquel hit his first home run Thursday since Aug. 7 of last season, he accounted for another run with a perfect sacrifice squeeze bunt that scored Gordon Beckham.

"Actually, the second at-bat (a groundout) was more important for me today because I don't know if you guys know, that was (career) at-bat 10,000 for me," said the 43-year-old infielder. "So it was something that I was really looking forward to. But everything in between was great. The homer was great and the squeeze was great. Obviously, I wasn't expecting to hit a home run. It came out OK today, 3-2 count, inside pitch and I reacted to it and the ball took off."

A.J. passes Walker: It took him some time, but catcher A.J. Pierzynski hit a home run Thursday and finally passed hitting coach Greg Walker on the all-time list.

Pierzynski now has 114 home runs. He was tied with Walker and others for 622nd place in baseball history.

"It took me long enough," Pierzynski said after hitting his first homer since May 7. "I couldn't say much because it took me so long to hit another one. It was nice. Everyone can look up and see the way I've been swinging the bat hasn't been what I want. The home run feels great, but the biggest thing was the shutout and the win."