The overall competition hasn’t been the greatest, but the White Sox achieved a significant conquest Friday night on the way to earning their season-high seventh consecutive victory.
They soundly solved formidable Zack Greinke en route to a 5-0 triumph over the Kansas City Royals before a quiet sellout crowd of 39,026 at Kauffman Stadium.
Of all the impressive numbers the Sox have amassed during this winning stretch, their mastery of Greinke easily superseded their pounding Tuesday of 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee.
The Sox tagged Greinke for nine hits in six innings. They might have had more runs to show for their success if three baserunners had not been nailed on steal attempts in those six innings.
Nevertheless, the Sox beat the league’s ERA leader (2.00), who was aiming to become the AL’s first 11-game winner.
The Sox have collected 17 hits in their last 13 innings against Greinke (10-4), who pitched 15 shutout innings against the Sox on April8 and May 4.
Scott Podsednik had three hits off Greinke, including a double that ignited a two-run third inning aided by Alberto Callaspo’s two-out error.
A.J. Pierzynski became only the fourth player to hit a home run off Greinke this season with a solo shot in the second. Greinke hadn’t allowed a home run in his previous two starts.
Rookie Gordon Beckham hit a double and scored on Dewayne Wise’s single to give left-hander John Danks a 4-0 lead in the fourth.
The Sox finished with 12 hits off Greinke and three relievers. They have averaged 6.6 runs in their last 10 games, nine of them victories.
The Sox (42-38) have earned their last five victories over Kansas City and Cleveland — the bottom two teams in the AL Central. But they have extended their road winning streak to seven games and are 15-4 in their last 19 games away from U.S. Cellular Field.
Danks (7-6) hasn’t allowed a run in his last 19 1/3 innings. He didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth inning, when Beckham bailed him out of danger with a backhanded stop at third to retire Billy Butler.
Danks got some help in the eighth after Jayson Nix dropped his throw on a potential double play that instead loaded the bases.
Scott Linebrink relieved and induced Callaspo to ground into an inning-ending double play, and Linebrink finished the Sox’s sixth shutout for his second save.
Sox outfielders made only three putouts during Danks’ 7 1/3 innings. Employing an effective changeup, Danks struck out four consecutive batters in the fourth and fifth.
Since getting tagged for five runs in a June 5 loss to Cleveland, Danks has lowered his ERA from 5.10 to 3.76.
Nix went 0-for-5 in his second consecutive start at shortstop in place of Alexei Ramirez, who has a bruise on the tip of his right middle finger.
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mgonzales@tribune.com
Up next
Saturday at Royals, 12:10 p.m., CSN
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