Chen dominates in the White Sox's Third Straight Loss

John Danks gets out-dueled by notorious White Sox killer Bruce Chen as the White Sox drop their third straight game in a 4-3 loss.  

Danks pitched well through the first three innings, giving up one walk and no hits but he ran into trouble in the fourth inning.  After allowing the first Royals hit of the game to Infante to lead off the inning, Danks allowed three more singles in a row giving up one run in the process.  Danks then walked Perez to load the bases prompting a mound visit from Don Cooper.  The talk was obviously not helpful as Danks walked in the second Royals run on the next batter.  Danks was lucky to only allow two runs as he struck out Cain and Escobar to end a long bottom of the fourth.  He would give up one more run in the fifth inning on a Hosmer sacrifice fly.

Courtesy of Ami Prindiville

Chen picked up where he left off last season with his domination of the White Sox lineup striking out seven batters over 6.1 innings while giving up no earned runs.  The White Sox were able to score one run while Chen was on the mound on an error by Moustakas in the fifth inning.

The game really got interesting in the top of the eighth inning.  After Semien singled to start the inning, Wade Davis hit Abreu with a pitch then walked Viciedo (!!) to load the bases with no outs.  Gillaspie singled and Abreu scored on a Konerko sacrifice fly to tie the game at three runs.  The inning ended on a great catch by Aoki, which prompted a rather vociferous "Dag gummit" from Hawk Harrellson.

Unfortunately, the bullpen yet again couldn't keep runs off the board.  In the bottom of the eighth Jarrod Dyson, who came in as a pinch runner when Billy Butler walked, was caught stealing on a fantastic throw by Nieto.  This appeared to be a game saving play by the rookie catcher until Downs and Cleto allowed back to back doubles plating what would end up being the game winning run.

Notes:

-Eaton continues to be a force at the top of the lineup.  He saw 23 pitches over 5 at bats (4.6 pitches per at bat).

-Gillaspie and Ramirez combined to go 4 for 8 while Konerko, Nieto, De Aza, and Dunn didn't get a hit.

-Danks uncharacteristically walked four batters but was pretty solid otherwise.  He struck out six batters and gave up five hits over his seven innings.  His velocity doesn't appear to be much different than last season.  He topped out at 90 mph while sitting 88-89 mph for most of his start.

-Nieto and Abreu nearly collided on a pop up in foul ground in the bottom of the third.  Abreu bobbled the ball but was able to hold on for the out.

-There were a number of terrible swings on Chen's offspeed stuff today.  He really had the changeup and slurve working.

-Greg Holland got the save in a relatively uneventful ninth inning.

Team Record: 2-3

The next game is tomorrow, 4/6/14, against Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium.  First pitch is at 1:10pm central time.  Those in the Chicagoland-area can watch on Comcast Sportsnet.