Offense Comes Back to Get Danks Off the Hook

It’s pretty safe to say that John Danks didn’t have it tonight. He wasn’t helped much by the defense in the outset, and by defense I mean Alejandro De Aza. De Aza misplayed 2 balls, at least one of which should have been caught, perhaps even both. The first, a scalded Prince Fielder shot to center had Alejandro breaking inward, just to have to move back at an odd angle and have the ball sail over his glove. The very next batter, Delmon Young, similarly smacked one hard to center and De Aza’s route left a little to be desired and the ball again sailed out of his reach. Danks managed to allow a series of hard hit balls, seeing eye singles and walks to stack his pitch count to 80 in 3 innings of work. Only 42 of those were strikes. Zach Stewart would stem the tide, stranding his 2 inherited runners in the 4th to leave the score at 5-2. He would go on to pitch 3 scoreless innings and only allow a single hit, earning the win.

Tigers (17-18): 5
White Sox (17-19): 7

De Aza attempted to rectify his top of the first performance in the bottom half, getting things started with a base knock. 2 batters later Adam Dunn would launch his 12th HR of the season. There was little doubt off of the bat where it was headed, and when I think about it, I don’t think there has been any doubt to any of his deep drives this year. Adam-12 has now exceeded his homerun total from 2011. It’s May 14, which is a crazy early time to hit as many homeruns as an entire season previous. While we’re doing things crazy early, I’ll go ahead and say if things continue in this way, we’re definitely looking at that Adam Dunn Comeback Player of the Year award.

Stewart’s outing allowed the Sox to hang in the game, and eventually the bats woke up. In the 5th, Dayan Viciedo would add a 2-run HR of his own, pulling the Sox back within a run. The homerun would be Drew Smyly’s 4th earned run of the night, the most he’s given up in any start of his short career. In the 6th the flood gates opened as the Sox would put together a bit of a hit parade, the main blow being Viciedo again as he took a ball up the middle with the bases loaded to put the Sox on top. Brent Morel would even get in on the action, adding an insurance run with an RBI single of his own.

Bullpen By Committee: It was Addison Reeds turn to save, and he converted.

Plus: Hits are great. Runs are greater. The Sox strung together some hits on the Tigers tonight and flexed some power as well putting up the runs necessary to get the job done.

Minus: One could go crazy with rage watching John Danks walk batter after batter. Once the score had shifted in favor of the Sox, Hector Santiago threatened to walk away the lead as well. The Sox don’t take a lot of free passes but they issue a ton. It’s a quick route to a big inning, which is never fun to be on the wrong side of.

Tipping Point:
Dayan Viciedo’s bases loaded single was the heavy shift. Dayan’s 4 RBI on the night nearly doubled his 2012 total coming into the game (5).

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