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Danks aims to continue turnaround in clash with Nats

Jun 25, 2011 - 2:48 PM (Sports Network) - John Danks' season got off to a horrendous start, but the right-hander seems to be back on track and will look to continue his winning ways this afternoon when he takes the hill for the Chicago White Sox in the second game of a three-game set against the Washington Nationals.

Through his first 11 starts Danks posted a dreadful 0-8 ledger with a 5.25 earned run average. But once the calendar changed from May to June, so did the fortunes of this 26-year-old hurler.

Danks has won each of his three starts this month and has dominated in each of those outings, allowing just five total runs in 22 innings. He has walked only three batters, while striking out 17.

The most recent win came on the road against Arizona, and the right-hander shut down a Diamondbacks club that was on fire. Danks surrendered two runs -- one earned -- in seven innings. He did not walk a batter and recorded seven punchouts.

Now the Texas native will have to deal with another surging squad, as the Nationals head into this game winners of four straight matchups. Danks has never faced Washington, but the right-hander has been strong at home, posting a 2-2 ledger with a 3.10 earned run average in front of a friendly Chicago crowd.

Washington will hand the ball to Tom Gorzelanny, who is looking to snap out of a personal three-game slide. Gorzelanny's struggles continued in his recent matchup against Baltimore, as the southpaw allowed five runs -- four earned -- on 10 hits in less than five innings of work.

It has been a rough year for the veteran hurler, but his main problems have come on the road where the 28-year-old is just 1-4 on the year with a poor 5.79 earned run average.

Gorzelanny does not have much experience against the White Sox, appearing in just three games, one of which was a start. In that time the lefty has allowed five runs on seven hits, and four of those hits were home runs.

On Friday, the Nationals put aside managerial turmoil to claim a 9-5, 14- inning marathon victory over the White Sox, winning for the 12th time in 13 games overall.

The abrupt resignation of manager Jim Riggleman -- due to future contract issues -- on Thursday led to bench coach John McLaren being tabbed interim manager before Friday's game. Then, during the game, reports surfaced that Davey Johnson would soon be named the manager as early as Saturday.

However, the problems were all washed away for the time being after Alexei Ramirez's throwing error in the 14th allowed Brian Bixler to score the go- ahead run.

The Nationals plated three more runs to seal the victory, but earlier they didn't make it easy for themselves. They saw a three-run lead erased in the ninth and lost the lead two more times during extra innings -- and this was all after McLaren was ejected for arguing an overturned call at first base.

"That was a very interesting game to say the least," Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said. "Both teams battled back. Obviously a great win for us and a great baseball game."

Collin Balester (1-0) got the win after tossing the final two innings.

The Nationals offense gave Balester and the defense a four-run cushion in the 14th. Bixler started a two-out rally with a single and stole second. He then scampered to home on Ian Desmond's grounder to Ramirez, whose throw to first was in the dirt and rolled near the dugout.

The error proved costly, as the bases were loaded after an intentional walk to Jayson Werth. Roger Bernadina hit an RBI single and Zimmerman doubled in two runs.

Reliever Matt Thornton (0-4) gave up the four unearned runs to suffer the loss for Chicago, which was coming off its 17th straight interleague series win over the cross-town rival Cubs.

"They battled, they played all the way through it," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Some guys were overused a little bit, but there's nothing you can do about it."

The White Sox swept a three-game set from the Nats last year.