White Sox-Rays: Bobby Jenks Escapes a Nail-Biter to Outlast Tampa Bay

Many people believe that the White Sox offense works on a feast-or-famine basis.

What do you call it when the offense gets 14 hits, and can only manage to bring around three runs?

For pitcher John Danks, it was almost a travesty.

Danks had his second strong outing of the year, in as many starts, picking up his first win after pitching six innings, and taking a shut-out attempt deep until Carlos Pena Jr. sent a blast out into right-center field.

Danks struck out eight batters, and only gave up two hits, but he also walked four. His control still needs a little work. He also had the advantage of not facing Evan Longoria, who has been dangerous at the plate this year.

While Danks had a pleasing performance, the White Sox offense made manager Ozzie Guillen scratch his head at the end of the day.

"It's hard to believe," Guillen stated in his post game report, and he was justified in saying so, with his offense having the chances it had.

Five times on Thursday night, the "South Side Hit Men" had a man in scoring position with less than two outs, and they only managed to score on the final occasion which gave the Sox a 3-1 lead.

The other two runs came off of the bat of Jermaine Dye, who hit a two-run homer in the second inning.

Octavio Dotel and Matt Thornton both came in and picked up holds on the night in relief of Danks. 

Then things got really interesting for Bobby Jenks.

The Sox closer got himself into a bit of a jam, after getting the first out. He then gave up a walk and a base hit, and ended up giving up an unearned run before he managed his way out of trouble, getting a grounder to Konerko for the final out of the game.

The Sox and Rays meet up again tomorrow night at 7:38 Eastern Time.

Oh, and for all of you people who liked (or didn't like) my suggestion that John Danks could win 20 games this year, I'll be making a special note each time he makes a start.

John Danks Win Counter: 1

Keep 'em coming, Johnny.