Lefty Danks has a fine tuneup vs. Padres
SAN DIEGO — In his last tuneup before he starts the White Sox’ home opener Friday against the Cleveland Indians, left-hander John Danks was about as good as he has been this spring.
Danks went five innings and allowed two runs in a 10-2 exhibition victory Saturday over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
Danks gave up six hits, including two infield singles in the first inning, and no walks. He struck out two on a light pitch-count day — 58 pitches, 42 for strikes.
“This was the best Johnny has looked as far as composure, control and having separation on his fastball and his changeup,’’ manager Robin Ventura said before the Sox boarded a plane for the Bay Area in advance of their season opener Monday night against the Oakland Athletics.
Danks was 5-2 with a 5.40 ERA in seven starts this spring.
“I couldn’t be more happy about how it went,’’ he said. “There were a couple of broken-bat hits, and the rest were ground balls outside of [one]. Throwing strikes, making them hit the ball on the ground, I’ll take my chances with that.’’
Roster set, officially
Four expected roster moves were made to set the Opening Day roster: Right-hander Phillippe Aumont, infielder Travis Ishikawa, outfielder Jacob May and catcher Hector Sanchez were reassigned to minor-league camp.
More shifting for Sox
The Sox implemented more defensive shifting this spring than they did during the 2015 regular season and might even bump it up a notch this regular season, coach Joe McEwing said.
“With the information we got, we’re going to increase it, depending on who’s pitching and who’s at the plate, pitchers’ tendencies and velocity,’’ McEwing said.
Shifts go beyond data, though, because some hitters try to adjust while others don’t, McEwing said.
“That’s the biggest thing, the eye test,’’ McEwing said. “Some guys try to beat it; others stay within themselves and their game plan. If we see guys adjusting, we’ll adjust, also. We’ll try to stay ahead of the curve.’’
Rollins second, Cabrera fifth
Ventura will open the season with Jimmy Rollins batting second, but he won’t be entrenched there.
“I like him there,’’ Ventura said. “He can move. Just because he’s a switch hitter and can handle the bat, he can go to a couple of different places. Right now it looks like he’ll be [second].’’
Switch hitter Melky Cabrera opened the 2015 season batting second but likely will bat fifth behind Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier.
“We have a lot of righties, so [the switch hitters] are going to have to be somewhere spaced in there,’’ Ventura said. “More than likely, it will end up like that.’’
This and that
Right-hander Zach Putnam was the only reliever not to work in the two San Diego exhibitions, but he did throw in the bullpen Saturday.
“He’s good; he’ll be ready to go Monday,’’ Ventura said.
Probables for the opening series in Oakland: Chris Sale vs. Sonny Gray on Monday, Jose Quintana vs. Rich Hill on Tuesday, Carlos Rodon vs. Chris Bassitt on Wednesday and Mat Latos vs. Kendall Graveman on Thursday.
The Sox were 17-13-1 this spring, their best record since going 17-12-1 in 2003.
Avisail Garcia’s home run against Josh Martin was his fifth of the spring and the team’s 51st, which led all of baseball. The Sox’ previous home-run high since 1980 was 43 in 2002.
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