It took facing the Mariners offense to finally get left-hander John Danks his first win of the season, as he bounced back from an 0-8 start to limit Seattle to an unearned run over 7 1/3 innings in the White Sox’s 3-1 victory tonight.
In doing so, Danks outpitched Rookie of the Year favorite Michael Pineda, who allowed two runs over seven innings in taking his third loss.
Danks was the first White Sox pitcher since Eddie Smith in 1942 to start a season 0-8.
The left-hander pitched in awful luck early on, going 0-3 despite a 3.27 ERA in his first five starts. However, he had legitimately struggled lately, especially last week when he gave up nine runs to the Blue Jays and got into a dispute with Jose Bautista. His ERA was up to 5.25 going into this one, and he had struck out a total of six batters in his last three starts.
Tonight, Danks fanned six and walked just one. Jesse Crain and Sergio Santos finished up from there, with Santos earning his 11th save.
Thie White Sox are 13-1 in their last 14 games against the Mariners.