John Danks must be getting frustrated by now. He’s started five games, giving up three or fewer runs in four of them, and somehow is still without a victory on the season. Much of this can be blamed on the other parts of the team roster. Either the bullpen has imploded late, or the hitters have failed to show up. The latter was the case for Sunday afternoon’s game in Detroit.
It was another lackluster performance by the Sox lineup. Collectively hitting under .200 over their last 10 games, the lineup once again couldn’t seem to get any runners home. They left twelve men on base total, and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. This all despite Danks’ very good effort, pitching six innings and giving up three runs on nine hits and two walks. He also struck out eight.
Perhaps it was just that Max Scherzer was simply better on the day. Scherzer threw eight innings of shutout baseball, holding the Sox to just four hits and three walks. He also struck out seven.
After this loss, the Sox are officially off to their worst start since 2001. Maybe years with the number “1” in them are just bad luck for the start of the season?
The difficult of the White Sox stretch will continue as they travel to New York four a four game set against the Yankees. First pitch on Monday is at 6:05 P.M., CDT.