John Danks pitches 7 shutout innings, Alexei Ramirez homers as White Sox beat Cubs 4-1

Danks, Ramirez lead White Sox over Cubs 4-1

CHICAGO — John Danks pitched seven shutout innings, Alexei Ramirez homered in the first and the White Sox played some NL-style baseball Wednesday to beat the Cubs 4-1. The White Sox, backed by a large and vocal following at Wrigley Field, now lead the spirited and closely contested interleague series that began in 1997, 34-33.

Danks (5-5) worked out of some early jams in a meeting of crosstown rivals who’ve struggled offensively this season.

In seven-plus innings, the lefty allowed five hits, walked none and struck out nine, while being charged with one run. He left after Aaron Miles doubled to lead off the eighth.

White Sox’s center fielder Brian Anderson then leaped in front of the ivy-covered wall to catch pinch-hitter Jake Fox’s long drive. Miles took third on the play and scored on Alfonso Soriano’s RBI grounder off reliever Scott Linebrink as the Cubs averted a shutout.

Bobby Jenks pitched a perfect ninth for his 15th save in 17 chances.

Leading 1-0, the White Sox added a run on Chris Getz’s RBI triple in the second off a wild Ryan Dempster (4-4) and got a third run in the seventh on a squeeze bunt single from Scott Podsednik. In the eighth, a walk, hit-and-run single by Paul Konerko and a sacrifice fly by A.J. Pierzynski made it 4-0 when pinch-runner DeWayne Wise beat Soriano’s throw to the plate.

Ramirez lifted his sixth homer of the season into the basket in left field on a 1-2 pitch from Dempster in the first.

Dempster, who walked six, was removed after issuing back-to-back free passes to Getz and Gordon Beckham in the seventh. After Danks swung away after showing bunt, reliever Angel Guzman made a nice stab of his grounder and threw to second to get Beckman, leaving runners at first and third.

With Getz breaking for the plate, Podsednik delivered a perfect squeeze bunt between the mound and first and beat it out for a single to make it 3-0.

The Cubs had several chances against Danks but couldn’t convert.

Derrek Lee singled leading off the second to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and Geovany Soto followed with a hard hopper off third baseman Beckham for an error, putting runners at first and second. Beckham then started an around-the-horn double play before Mike Fontenot grounded out.

The Cubs had runners at the corners with no outs in the fourth, but when Anderson made a nice catch of Lee’s sinking liner, Cubs’ baserunner Ryan Theriot had already broken off third and couldn’t get back in time to tag up. Danks then fanned Soto and got Reed Johnson on a fielder’s choice grounder.

NOTES: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen laughed off a T-shirt with the phrase “Ozzie Mows Wrigley Field” and an image of him mowing the field with the scoreboard in the background. He even wore it in the clubhouse before the game. Guillen has been an outspoken critic of Wrigley Field.. … The loss marked the 10th time in the last 26 games the Cubs have scored one run or less. They are 9-17 in that span.