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Danks, White Sox shut down Rays

May 30, 2008 - 3:16 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- The red-hot Tampa Bay Rays finally discovered what it's like to run into an another hot club.

The Chicago White Sox got solo homers from Joe Crede and Paul Konerko and a solid pitching effort from John Danks to cool off the Rays with a 5-1 victory on Thursday night.

Tampa Bay (32-22), which still owns the best record in the American League, was limited to one run at home, where they dropped to 16-3 in their last 19 contests.

The White Sox, meanwhile, won for the 12th time in their past 15 games to maintain a two-game lead in the AL Central.

"When you play for me, there's a lot of expectations," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I think the players get used to it (winning). I try to stay away as much as I can, they handle it the right way."

Crede homered in the sixth and Konerko in the eighth as Chicago (30-23) took the first-ever matchup of first-place teams at Tropicana Field over the AL East-leading Rays.

"I didn't look at it any differently than any other game, but deep down you know that they are winning the tough East, and we've got a tough Central," Danks said. "This team really doesn't lose much here at home and, if we could come in here and hopefully sweep the series, we'd be sitting pretty going into June."

Danks (4-4) won for the first time in four starts, allowing just one run and six hits in six innings while tying a career high with eight strikeouts to go along with just one walk. He also hurled seven scoreless innings in a 6-0 win over Tampa Bay on April 20.

"He was unbelievable," White Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera said. "He kept getting better and better. He kept the ball down and was getting out of jams. He threw the ball really, really well."

Akinori Iwamura recorded two hits for Tampa Bay, which had not been held to one run at home since a 2-1 loss to the New York Yankees on May 14.

"They have unbelievable talent," Guillen said. "They know what they are doing and they are going in the right direction."

In the top of the third, Carlos Quentin's RBI single and Jim Thome's RBI double spotted the White Sox a 2-0 lead. Tampa Bay answered with its only run in the bottom of the frame on Carl Crawford's run-scoring single.

"We had opportunities to get the game where we wanted to, but we couldn't get the run in," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "Danks has pitched well against us both times we've faced him. He's given a lot of people problems. He's an aggressive sort. He's got a good amount of confidence, too."

Crede led off the sixth with his ninth blast and Cabrera added an RBI double to make it 4-1.

"That was a big moment right there, the 0-2 pitch to Crede was a big play," Maddon said. "They can get at you at a moment's notice."

Konerko homered on the first pitch of the eighth inning off reliever Jason Hammel to provide the final margin.

Edwin Jackson (3-4), who won his last start to end a seven-game winless streak, allowed four runs and a season-high 10 hits. He walked two and struck out four.

"I felt good, way better than my last start," Jackson said. "Everything felt back to normal. It was a battle all day. It's a good hitting team. I just didn't get the job done."

Cabrera, Quentin and Thome each had two of the White Sox's 11 hits.