Well, this one was pretty much all on John Danks. Danks has been the victim of poor support and bad luck in many of his starts this year. In three of his past five trips to the mound, the Sox managed to score only one run. Not so on Friday, as the White Sox spotted him a three run lead in the bottom of the second.
But, Danks couldn’t hold on to it. Hurt by home runs, he gradually gave back all of the lead and then some, and Baltimore would go on to win 10-4. Danks’ line on the night was six innings pitched, with five earned runs on eight hits. He struck out three.
The White Sox managed to do a little damage off of Baltimore pitcher Jake Arrieta, but Danks’ poor day outweighed it. Arrieta pitched five innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks. A.J. Pierzynski hit his first home run of the season in the second inning off of him.
The Sox will try to rebound against the O’s as Ozzie serves out the last day of his suspension on Saturday evening at the Cell. First pitch in the game will be at 6:10 P.M. CDT.
Major League Baseball released a statement on Friday that Ozzie Guillen has been suspended for two games, and fined, following his use of twitter shortly after being ejected from Wednesday night's game at Yankee Stadium. Ozzie's tweeting violated the league's social media policy, which requires all use of social media by team players and staff to halt 30 minutes prior to the start of any game. Ozzie will serve his suspension on Friday and Saturday nights.
Even without Ozzie in the dugout, the White Sox will try to start a win streak at home. John Danks will take to the mound, once again in search of his first win on the season. This year, Danks is 0-3 with a 3.27 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. He has mostly pitched well, but been the victim of bad luck in the form of bullpen collapses and lackluster offensive efforts. In his career against the O's, Danks is 4-2 with a 3.64 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. Baltimore hitters Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis have both hit Danks well over their careers, posting .368 and .381 averages against him, respectively.
Jake Arrieta will be the starter for Baltimore on Friday evening. Arrieta, in his second season in the majors, is 2-1 with a 4.94 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. He's started only one game against the White Sox, in which he gave up four runs over just four innings pitched. Both A.J. Pierzynski and Alex Rios are batting 1.000 against him in limited action.
The weather in Chicago is expected to stay nice, and will be clear with a low in the upper 40's. First pitch is at 7:10 P.M., CDT, and the game will be televised on CSN and MASN 2 HD.
