Danks' strong seven innings save 'pen

CHICAGO -- John Danks deserved the win and the save for his seven-inning, 118-pitch performance during the White Sox 4-3 walk-off victory over the Reds on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field.

The veteran southpaw ended up with neither but certainly had the appreciation of his team as an integral part of the White Sox fifth straight series win.

"For him to go out there against a really good hitting team and to shut them down pretty much is pretty awesome," said White Sox infielder Gordon Beckham, who delivered the game-winning hit off of Aroldis Chapman. "Great job by him for sure."

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"You saw him today. You probably saw a little speeding up on guys and the quick movement," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura of Danks. "He was just trying to create some deception, and it worked for him. He was around the zone, he was throwing strikes. We needed that today more than any day."

Danks was needed on Sunday because the White Sox were without Carlos Rodon, who started Saturday and is off until the Oakland series. They were without Hector Noesi, who took a Billy Hamilton line drive just above his right hip. They probably were without Dan Jennings, who had thrown 77 pitches combined in his last two relief outings.

If this game had gone well into extra innings, the White Sox were going to be scrambling. They had a fighting chance primarily because Danks allowed one run on six hits, striking out four.

Being counted on to go deep into games stands as the perfect depiction of how Danks views his job, as opposed to a special request or need.

"Yeah, Coop had mentioned that in the bullpen, but I wish it was like that every time," said Danks, who allowed seven runs (three earned) over 2 1/3 innings in his last start in Minnesota. "I like knowing that it's your game when you're out there. Obviously performance dictates how long you're in the game, but go out there for a while and give us a chance to win."