White Sox rout Atlanta's Hanson

[June 23, 2010]  CHICAGO (AP) -- John Danks settled down after a shaky start to outpitch a Tommy Hanson as the Chicago White Sox won their seventh straight game, 9-6 over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.

In snapping Atlanta's five-game winning streak, the White Sox won for the 11th time in 12 games. They improved to 35-34 -- the first time they have been over .500 since they were 1-0.

Chicago had 13 of its season-high 16 hits during Hanson's 3 2-3 innings. The first 10 were singles before Carlos Quentin's three-run homer put the White Sox up 9-3 in the fourth. It was their first home run in nine games since Alex Rios went deep June 12.

All seven victories during Chicago's longest winning streak since last July have come against NL teams. The White Sox are 11-2 in interleague play; the Braves are 7-3.

Danks (7-5) spotted Atlanta a 3-0 lead before retiring 15 of the last 18 batters he faced. He ended up allowing six hits in seven innings to win his third straight start.

Hanson (7-4) surrendered a career-high nine runs as his four-game winning streak ended. He had been 4-0 with a 0.75 ERA against AL teams and had a string of 23 consecutive scoreless innings in interleague play before A.J. Pierzynski's two-run single in the second.

Hanson's ERA rose from 3.38 to 4.17 and he didn't record a strikeout for the first time in his two-year career. In 13 starts not including Tuesday's game and an eight-run blowup May 20 against Cincinnati, Hanson has a 2.56 ERA.

Great starting pitching has fueled Chicago's turnaround, with a 2.16 ERA during the 11-1 surge. Danks seemed ready to break that string, giving up Martin Prado's leadoff homer and Brooks Conrad's two-run double in the second, but he retired the next 11 batters.

The White Sox sent 10 men to the plate and scored five times in their half of the second on two-run singles by Pierzynski and Omar Vizquel and Rios' RBI infield hit. Hanson threw 36 pitches in the inning.

Alexei Ramirez's third-inning single made it 6-3 before the White Sox broke open the game in the fourth.

Paul Konerko, Ramirez and Pierzynski had three singles apiece for the White Sox. Konerko is batting .429 over his last 19 games.

Brian McCann homered and Conrad had an RBI double in the ninth for the Braves, who had won 42 straight games when scoring five or more runs. Bobby Jenks got the final out for his 15th save.

NOTES: Nationals pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg already is a household name -- except in Ozzie Guillen's household. In downplaying his team's recent sweep at Washington, the White Sox manager said: "We only scored one run against the first guy, Starborough, or whatever his name is." ... The Braves activated RHP Takashi Saito (strained left hamstring) from the 15-day DL and sent RHP Craig Kimbrel to Triple-A Gwinnett. ... Chicago RHP Jake Peavy has some shoulder pain but says he'll make his scheduled start Friday against the Cubs. ... Conrad, playing 3B, momentarily lost Rios' fourth-inning grounder in his shirt. Rios was credited with an infield hit. ... Braves RHP Jesse Chavez took over for Hanson and allowed three hits over 4 1-3 scoreless innings.

[Associated Press]

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