Defining moment? John Danks struggles as Sox lose home opener

John Danks seems to define himself every time out. He is what he is.

“The best [pitchers] are consistent. The average pitchers are up and down — simple as that,” Danks said after allowing seven runs that doomed the White Sox to a 7-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians in 39-degree weather on Friday in their home opener at U.S. Cellular Field. “Everybody in major-league baseball is capable of pitching a good game. It’s the elite pitchers that do it on a regular basis.”

Danks, in his 10th major-league season, has been struggling to regain his consistency since he returned from 2012 shoulder surgery. Even in a promising second half last season, he was hot-and-cold — in nine effective starts he was 3-3 with a 1.86 ERA; in five ineffective starts he was 0-4 with an 8.87 ERA.

Danks’ first start of the 2016 season was more of the same. He allowed five runs (three earned) in the first two innings and two runs in the fifth. But in between he retired 10 consecutive batters.

“It wasn’t good enough,” said Danks, who is 0-8 with a 6.34 ERA n his last eight starts against the Indians. “I felt like I made some good pitches to get ahead or get a chance to put a guy away. I couldn’t make a good enough pitch to get ‘em out. Certainly disappointing.”

Danks (0-1, 9.00 ERA) was victimized in the first inning by a bad break on Carlos Santana’s swinging bunt with the bases loaded. Catcher Alex Avila contemplated tossing to Danks rushing to cover the plate — but Danks wasn’t there in time and Avila threw wildly to first base for an error, with two runs scoring. Yan Gomes followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Indians a 3-0 lead.

“It just trickled out in front — kind of in no-man’s land,” Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “Once Alex picked it up, I think he thought he had a shot at home but once he turned and threw it [to first] it was wide right. Not that easy of a play in the conditions, but it’s one you want to have made.”

But Danks set himself up for the fall by allowing solid singles to center by Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindfor, then walking Mike Napoli to load the bases.

“They got on him pretty early and that [swinging bunt] play sets up a different-looking inning,” Ventura said. “He probably could have gotten out of it with one [run]. But he just needs to be more consistent. He knows that. Hopefully we get that — [and] real quick.”

After winning three of four games in warm weather in Oakland, the Sox (3-2) were cold and flat in wintry conditions — including intermittent snow flurries that delayed the start of the game by 15 minutes — in their 2016 debut at home.

They had just three hits against Indians starter Danny Salazar — two by third baseman Todd Frazier, including his second home run of the season to make it 5-1 in the fourth inning. Avisail Garcia was picked off first base — it wasn’t even close — with runners on first and second and one out in the second. Melke Cabrera hit into a double play when he missed first base and was tagged out after an errant relay.

“It’s disappointing. You always want to win [the home opener],” Ventura said. “But these guys have been around long enough. They’ll put it behind them and come back ready to go [Saturday].”

As for Danks, he couldn’t hide his disappointment. But he was already looking forward to his next opportunity Thursday against the Twins at Target Field.

“I’ve been excited about this start for a couple of weeks now,” Danks said. “Definitely pictured it going a lot different in my head. That’s baseball. Got to get ready for my next one. That’s just the way it goes. I’ll do my best to forget about this and focus on Minnesota.”