Danks pitches well but falls to 0-5

John Danks delivered his fifth quality outing of the season Wednesday, not bad considering he’s made 7 total starts.

The White Sox’ left-hander pitched 8 strong innings, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits.

At the end of the day, however, Danks was still looking for his first win.

“He pitched very well,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “We don’t get him run support and the day we did, they scored right away against him. That’s just something where sometimes we waste good pitching.

“It’s kind of look around, look around to see if you can grab something and take it from there, but there’s nothing to grab there right now.”

Now 0-5 with a 3.83 ERA, Danks could have blamed second baseman Omar Vizquel for failing to cover first base in the decisive sixth inning, when the Twins scored 2 runs.

But the 26-year-old starter put the blame on himself.

“It’s tough, no doubt,” Danks said. “Obviously, there are plays that could have been made, you hope to make, that we made more often than not. But, you know, it still comes back to I got put in this situation and I still need to pitch out of it.

“I was raised that (way) — I know my dad would be here tomorrow if he heard me making excuses and pouting and feeling sorry for myself.”

Circle the wagons:

Off to their worst start since 1978, the White Sox are managing not to splinter.

At least that’s the way John Danks sees it.

“This is a tight, tight group,” Danks said. “A fun group. A loose group. We are having a good time. We are serious whenever we need to be serious. Everybody is putting their work in. I mean, it’s baffling to me why we are not playing better than we are. We are battling.

“We are all enjoying coming to the field. We are not enjoying the outcomes of the games. Don’t get me wrong. Nobody in here wants to lose. We are all putting in the work. We are all rooting for each other. We are all there for each other still. This is a tight group. I don’t know how anyone could ever break this group right now.”

Rios sighting:

Not only did he hit his third home run of the season Wednesday, Alex Rios singled in the seventh inning and again in the ninth.

The Sox’ center fielder came in with only 6 hits in his last 53 at-bats (.113).

“That’s a positive thing,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “If Rios continues to swing the bat — not the home run, I think the last two hits, right through the middle, right center — he can break out and start doing some damage.”