John Danks flirted with a no-hitter through five innings, but ended up lucky to get only his second decision in his last seven starts. The Sox bullpen -- and Joe Crede -- made it scary, but the South Siders held on to salvage a split with Oakland and preserve a one-game lead in the AL Central heading into an off day.
Danks didn't allow a hit until Rajai Davis singled to left leading off a sixth, but he ran into trouble in the seventh inning, a place despite all his success he struggles to get to. Part of it was due to his defense, and a ball got over Dewayne Wise's head leading off an inning and things went downhill from there.
Ozzie Guillen pulled Danks a single and a double, and he left after 6 1/3 innings and 106 pitchers with a 3-2 lead. Of course, part of his inefficiency was due to striking out a career-high nine hitters, a problem I would take every time.
In came Octavio Dotel, and Joe Crede forced him to retire three batters instead of two to get out of the inning after letting a ball play him for his 17th error with two outs to load the bases. But Dotel bailed him out by inducing a weak grounder to third, a play Crede successfull made to end the inning
The Sox manufactured a run in the eighth -- Wise doubled, Orlando Cabrera got him over to third, and A.J. Pierzynski drove him in with a sac fly -- and it proved to be crucial, as Scott Linebrink would run into trouble in the ninth.
The good news is that Linebrink didn't allow any hard-hit balls. Jack Hannahan hit a soft single with one-out, and Crede made things tough again by unsuccessfully diving for a ball that may not have required a dive, resulting in another single. Mark Ellis drove in Hannahan with a grounder up the middle, but Jack Cust flew out to right to end the game.
It was a more exciting ending than necessary for what was up until the seventh a very solid effort. While Danks dominated, the Sox built a 3-1 lead off a wild but effective Rich Harden.
The Sox took advantage of a two-out error in the first inning, as a single and a walk loaded the bases for Crede. Crede saw three pitches out of the zone, then Harden came back to even it 3-2. After a foul ball, Crede took a high fastball for the game's first run. Nick Swisher just missed another slam, flying out to right to end the inning.
They padded the lead in the fourth, starting with a Crede single. Swisher followed with a walk, and Alexei Ramirez found a high fastball to his liking and pushed it into right-center for a 2-0 lead. Wise made it 3-0 with a sac fly.
Wise went 2-for-2 on the day, but cost the Sox a baserunner when he made a poor decision trying to stretch a routine single to center into a double.
Record: 51-37 |
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