The White Sox are 4-0 when Dane Dunning starts

Dane Dunning

The White Sox have won all four games Dane Dunning has started this season, and the rookie right-hander got his first major league win Wednesday, as the Sox bounced back from Tuesday's debacle with an 8-1 win over the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates.

Dunning had an efficient outing. He needed only 76 pitches to get through six innings. He gave up a leadoff double two pitches into the seventh, and that ended his night. Gio Gonzalez stranded the inherited runner to keep Dunning's outing scoreless. 

His final line: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 Ks, 1 BB and 51 strikes on 78 pitches. 

Anytime a pitcher throws 65% of his pitches for strikes, we'll take it. And Dunning's outing saved the bullpen, too. Gonzalez allowed one run over two innings, and Steve Cishek mopped up in the ninth.

It was nice to see the Sox win a game without having to use Jimmy Cordero, Evan Marshall or Alex Colome.

James McCann had his first career multihomer game and totaled four RBIs. Yoan Moncada also had two hits for the second straight game. Nick Madrigal's two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth was the key hit, taking a 3-0 Sox lead to 5-0.

The Sox stand at 27-16, one game ahead of both the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins heading into Thursday's off day.

I'm not sold on this Sox team as a legitimate contender, because I don't think their run prevention is good enough. But here's where the clear progress has occurred: They continue to kick the crap out of bad teams. 

The Sox are a combined 18-3 against the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates. There are still three more games with the Tigers; those will be this weekend at Guaranteed Rate Field.

After that, the Twins come to Chicago, and we'll see if the Sox are able to win a series against one of their chief division rivals for the first time this year.

Going back to Dunning, his next start figures to be against Minnesota. I'm interested to see how he fares. He's proven he can slay the bums, just like the team as a whole. The biggest tests are still ahead.