Danks struggles as Sox tie Reds

White Sox starter John Danks struggled, and the Sox settled for a 5-5 tie with the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

Danks gave up six hits, four walks and three runs – two earned – in 32⁄3 innings. Danks has been refining his pitches and wasn’t too concerned about the outing.

“I’ve been concentrating on getting my curveball over and getting left-handed hitters out,” Danks said. “This is the part of spring training [where] it gets a little monotonous. You have to catch yourself and make sure you don’t go through the motions. My line doesn’t look real well, but we got done what we wanted to.”

The Sox’s J.J. Putz, who signed a one-year, $3 million contract last December to fill a setup role, allowed his first runs of the spring on a two-run homer by Brandon Phillips in the seventh inning. He threw a scoreless inning in each of his first three appearances.