Tigers 7, White Sox 1: John Danks hits fifth-inning wall

This game went as well as you'd think a John Danks-David Price matchup would.  It just took a little time to arrive at its conclusion.

Coming off a shutout, Danks tacked on four more scoreless innings to start this one, but he unraveled in a fifth inning that he couldn't even finish. At about the same time, David Price tightened up his game and put it on lockdown, going the distance with 11 strikeouts.

Price looked vulnerable early, with the White Sox taking good swings against him, but some of that solid contact couldn't find a hole. Jose Abreu hit a couple rockets on both sides of second; Jose Iglesias snagged a one-hopper and started a 6-4-3 in the first inning, and a leaping Ian Kinsler caught a liner and nearly caught Alexei Ramirez off second in the third. Likewise, a Carlos Sanchez one-hopper found Miguel Cabrera's mitt to deny an RBI single in the second.

But the Sox did score first, and with good two-strike hitting. Emilio Bonifacio took a 1-2 cutter to right field and turned it into a hustle double to start the third. Adam Eaton stayed with an 0-2 curve and moved Bonifacio to third with a groundout, and Alexei Ramirez hammered an 0-2 cutter to score Bonifacio for a 1-0 lead.

Danks managed to carry that lead into the fifth, but Cabrera followed a one-out Kinsler single with one of those towering drives to center, giving Detroit a 2-1 lead. Danks almost looked like he could brush it off when J.D. Martinez flied out to right, but four straight Tigers hits sent Danks to the dugout before the final out did. Danks just stopped locating ...

... and Price started. After the Tigers gave Price a cushion, he got comfortable, striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth. He also struck out the side in the sixth to run his streak to seven consecutive K's, but an Adam LaRoche ended his bid at history with a groundout to start the seventh. He ended up going the distance, allowing just five hits and two walks, and all five hits came during the first half of the game.

At least the high-leverage White Sox relievers could take it easy. Daniel Webb finished the fifth and pitched a scoreless sixth, and Hector Noesi grunted his way through the final three, allowing a pair of runs.

Bullet points:

*Danks got through four innings without a run thanks to good defense from Gordon Beckham, who made a diving play to his left and also snagged a couple of hot grounders.

*Ramirez went 2-for-4 from the second spot, and LaRoche had two singles to left field against Price. Bonifacio's double was the only other hit.

Record: 25-29 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights