Shields shellacked in Chicago White Sox debut
The Chicago White Sox are doom, and new starting pitcher James Shields is gloom. Or, vice versa.
Any way you want to put it, the Sox and Shields were an imperfect match in an 11-4 loss to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Struggling team, welcome a struggling starter.
"You never want to come into a new team and expect to do that," Shields said after getting shelled over 2-plus innings in his White Sox debut. "But there's better days to come right now. This team is very positive. They've got a good vibe in here.
"Obviously, we're losing games right now, but we've got a good vibe and we're trying to stay positive and it's going to get better."
It can't get much worse, for the Sox or Shields.
The White Sox (29-30) are under the .500 mark for the first time this season and have lost five straight and 20 of 26.
Shields, acquired Saturday in a trade from the Padres, has been terrible in 2 straight starts.
Against the Nationals, the 34-year-old pitcher gave up 7 earned runs on 8 hits (3 home runs) and 2 walks while failing to retire a batter in the third inning.
In his final start for San Diego, at Seattle on May 31, Shields pitched 2⅔ innings and allowed 10 runs on 8 hits (2 homers) and 4 walks.
"I was kind of all over the place today, really," Shields said Wednesday night. "Fastball location wasn't very good. I wasn't getting ahead of hitters and when I did get the ball over the plate they hit it out of the yard, so I've got to do a better job of that.
"Just fastball location, really. Be aggressive with the fastball and get better location with the fastball. When I have good fastball location, all my off-speed pitches are working and everything else is going good. Today wasn't a good day. I didn't do my job and I need to do better."
The Sox have to hope Shields finds it fast.
Not only do they need the right-hander to perform if they hope to salvage a once promising year, they own Shields $27 million through the 2018 season.
"Not the greatest start, obviously," manager Robin Ventura said. "I think he wanted to come in and eat up some innings and everything else and pitch a good game. They got to him early. I think he just struggled through it.
"Just not a good start. Once he started struggling, he started getting it up. The home runs came in there, but you could just tell he was struggling to get through it."
Shields, a workhorse throughout his career, didn't give the White Sox's beat-up bullpen any needed rest. Outfielder J.B. Shuck had to pitch the ninth inning, and he allowed 1 run on 1 hit.
"It was an adrenaline rush," said Shuck, a three-year starter at Ohio State. "You joke around about it all the time, but you get out there and it was like, 'All right, here we go.' I threw one breaking ball and I think (Jayson) Werth hit it about 150 mph. Thank goodness it was on the ground."