White Sox's James Shields: Posts best start in White Sox uniform Wednesday

Shields (1-2) gave up eight hits but just an earned run and a walk over 6.2 innings in Wednesday's 9-6 victory over the Twins. He struck out five.

Analysis:

The veteran righty, who sports an overall 3-9 record on the season when factoring in the Padres portion of his campaign, needed this one in the worst way. Shields had pretty much been catastrophic over his first three trips to the mound with Chicago, yielding 24 hits and 22 runs (21 earned) over 8.2 innings. He parted the dark clouds a bit against the Red Sox of all offenses in his last start on June 23, and really seemed to hit his stride Wednesday. He fired 61 of 93 pitches for strikes, while notching first-pitch strikes on 17 of 27 hitters. The last pair of outings are certainly a step in the right direction, and he'll try to build on them when he faces the Yankees on Monday.