Danks Throws a Gem, Rios Gets Revenge, Sox End Skid

It was no secret that John Danks was struggling coming into Cleveland on Tuesday night. He had looked down right bad in his last two starts, prompting people to question whether or not he could be the ace of our staff. Well, he temporarily put his critics to rest against the Indians in Cleveland on Tuesday throwing 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits. It was refreshing to see John come out and hit his spots and control the pace of the game tonight. Unfortunately, he would get the no-decision as Chris Sale came into the game looking to preserve the 3-0 White Sox lead, only to see the tribe tie things up. I’ll be honest, after Sale came in and the Indians tied it, I thought to myself, “here we go again.” It seems like the Sox have been in so many close games this season and haven’t been on the winning end of any of them. But much to my surprise, Hector Santiago held the tribe scoreless in the 9th and put together a rally in the 10th.

The Captain, Paul Konerko would lead off that 10th with a single to left, he was taken down for a pinch runner in Brent Lillibridge. After an AJ pop out, Alex Rios would stroll to the plate looking for a little revenge. (A quick backstory for those who don’t know or remember, when the Indians were in Chicago about a week ago, Chris Perez closed the game on an Alex Rios groundout. As they were walking off the field, Perez began yelling and trash talking towards Alex Rios. I’m still not sure what that was all about, but none the less a motivating factor for Rios as we jump back to the top of the 10th on Tuesday). With an 0-1 count Rios would line a Perez fastball into the right center field gap and as hawk would say “Nobodies gonna get that one!” Lillibridge would come around to score to put the Sox up by one. A struggling Alexei Ramirez would drive in Rios from third on a fielders choice with the infield in to give the Sox a 2 run cushion.

Enter Addison Reed. Reed came on in the 10th, looking like he’s done it a million times before, putting the tribe down in order to secure a much needed White Sox late inning win.

Notable Offensive performances for the Sox tonight:

Alejandro De Aza was 2 for 5 with a run scored

Adam Dun was 1 for 2 with a run scored and 3 walks (which is GREAT to see)

Paul Konerko was 2 for 5 with an RBI

AJ was only 1 for 5 but he drove in 2 big RBI’s

And of course, Alex Rios was 3 for 4 with a walk,

This is the kind of win that will hopefully get our Sox back on track and rolling again. We have Cy Peavy on the bump tomorrow, lets come out and split this series.