Rangers 4, White Sox 0: The most John Danks start ever

John Danks dropped to 0-7 on the season, and he did it in classic fashion.

He gave up a solo homer to Josh Hamilton in the first inning, one of those early blips that soon turns into a mountainous margin after watching the White Sox offense's effort against Alexi Ogando.

He failed to close out a sixth inning, walking Adrian Beltre with two outs before giving up a first-pitch homer to Nelson Cruz.

And while Danks pitched well otherwise -- he was able to complete the game -- he got zero help from the offense.

You can't get more Danks than that.

Ogando became the second Rangers pitcher this month to earn his first career shutout against the White Sox, and it shouldn't have been so easy. Not because Ogando is bad -- he entered the game 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA -- but because he allowed five leadoff hitters to reach base.

You'd think the Sox would be able to forge one rally from those starts. You'd be wrong.

Only once on the evening did the Sox advance a runner into scoring position. In the fifth inning, A.J. Pierzynski led off with a single. Like the three leadoff hitters before him to reach, Pierzynski almost never advanced.

Ian Kinsler did the Sox a favor when Gordon Beckham hit a grounder to the right side. Kinsler ranged far to his right, but his throw sailed over the head of first baseman Michael Young. The scorer credited Beckham with a single, and Pierzynski moved to third on the play.

Unfortunately, that brought Juan Pierre to the plate. Pierre had already thwarted one potential rally when he grounded into a 3-6 double play, and all he could do with runners on the corners is roll one over just left of the mound. Ogando had an easy play, and an easy night thereafter.

Notes:

*Paul Konerko should have had a double on a liner to the left-center gap, but Marvin Hudson thought the tag was applied before Konerko's foot touched the bag. He was wrong, but still, hats off to David Murphy for an awesome throw from left center. He cut off the ball, spun and fired before looking, and made a one-hop throw right on the money.

*A study in contrast: Murphy hit a flare to left that dropped along the line in front of Juan Pierre. Pierre fell down while gloving it, and Murphy went for two. Pierre popped up and fired a two-hopper to the cutoff man.

*Adam Dunn's problems continue to mount. He popped out twice and struck out twice.

Record: 22-27 | Box score | Play-by-play