The first two months of the season John Danks gave White Sox fans many headaches starting the season going 0-8. Once the calendar turned to June, Danks has been fantastic and not even a line drive off the head could knock him out of the game as the Sox evened up the series Saturday at a game a piece.
In the bottom of the fourth, Stephen Drew hit a liner right off the back of Danks’ head that went near the Diamondbacks dugout and resulted in a ground rule double for Drew. The play looked a lot scarier then it actually was as Danks remained in the game and pitched seven strong innings to earn his third win in a row. The lefty gave up only two runs (one earned) on seven hits to go with seven strikeouts.
Zach Duke took the loss for Arizona. Duke (1-2) went five and a third allowing three runs on seven hits.
The key play of the game was a homerun robbing catch by Brent Lillibridge. Melvin Mora hit a ball that looked like it was destined for the seats and would have given the Diamondbacks the lead. Lillibridge had other ideas as he was able to leap against the wall and bring it back in resulting in only a double. Danks retired the next two batters to keep the Sox up by a run.
Alex Rios gave the Sox some breathing room with a three run homer in the eighth innings to put the Sox up by four. Paul Konerko also went yard as part of his three hit night. Konerko is as hot as anyone hitting .446 in the last 17 games.
The Sox and Diamondbacks will meet again Sunday in the third and final game of the series.