SEATTLE — The White Sox mustered just enough offense Saturday night to support John Danks’ second career shutout.
But there weren’t any contributions from Adam Dunn, which may pave the way for Dayan Viciedo to make his 2011 Sox debut Sunday at first base.
Manager Ozzie Guillen gave Viciedo time to recover from a coast-to-coast flight while the Sox beat the Mariners 3-0. That Dunn struck out three times and saw his batting average drop to .163 gave Guillen more reason to start Viciedo at first base instead of right field in the series finale.
Guillen said he wouldn’t bat Viciedo in the middle of the Sox’s order but added, “I expect him to do well.”
Viciedo, who told Guillen that it seemed like a 10-hour flight to reach Seattle, is ready for the challenge regardless of the position.
“Wherever Ozzie wants to put me,” Viciedo smiled.
Viciedo, who batted .297 with 20 home runs for Triple-A Charlotte this season and .308 with five homers in 104 at-bats for the Sox in 2010, is aware of the hype surrounding cries for him to be the savior of the Sox season as they trail the Tigers by seven games in the American League Central with 32 games left.
“I do laugh at it,” Viciedo said. “But let’s see what happens. My training has come up to the point to be here, so hopefully everything will work out. That’s how I’ve been training — to come here and do what I’m supposed to do.”
Guillen praised the 5-foot-11, 230-pound Viciedo for staying in shape. Viciedo, however, admitted he was scared after suffering an injury to his right thumb on July 23 and suffering another injury while diving for a ball on Aug. 17.
“Out of all places to get hit again, on the same hand,” said Viciedo, who broke his right thumb March 10 in spring training. “So it worried me a bit. But through all the treatment and training I’ve been doing, everything has worked out fine.”
Four hits turned out to be enough for Danks (6-9), who improved to 6-1 in his last 10 starts by scattering three hits and tying a career high with 10 strikeouts.
“I said going into June, I’m starting over and trying to salvage the season,” Danks said. “To this point, it has been all right. I’m not really worried about where I’m at right now.
“I’m trying to help us. We don’t feel like we’re all the way out of it, and we have to win as many games as we can. I’m not worried about my personal numbers. I gave up on those after the first two months.”
Juan Pierre, Alejandro De Aza and Paul Konerko had consecutive singles and Alexei Ramirez a sacrifice fly to give Danks a two-run cushion in the fourth. De Aza ripped a home run in the eighth to end the scoring.
Center fielder Alex Rios was a late scratch from the Sox lineup because of a right hand bruise. X-rays were negative. Rios entered the game in the ninth as a defensive replacement.
Twitter @MDGonzales
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