Not much excitement in this one until the end, but the game did begin in a way familiar to those who have watched Shields make starts in 2016. The third Phillies batter of the game, Odubel Herrera, took him deep to put the Sox at a quick 2-0 deficit. On a relative scale, Shields recovered from his first inning, never looking sharp, but keeping the ball in the park from there on out, which was a nice change of pace. Still, he would be unable to survive the sixth inning and was shown the exit when Robin Ventura wisely chose not to allow him to face Herrera for a fourth time.

Shields failed to record an out against Herrera in three tries. He had two singles in addition to his first inning homer. The second of those singles came in the fifth, a run scoring single through the drawn-in infield that plated Philadelphia’s fifth run of the game.

The Sox did manage some of their own offense, with all of their runs condensed into the third inning. A Tim Anderson double and Jose Abreu walk – both occurring with two outs – preceded Melky Cabrera yanking a change-up inside the right field foul pole to give the Sox a tragically short-lived 3-2 lead. Shields contributed to the offense in the fifth with 40 feet of ground ball that kissed along the third baseline at a pace that would have embarrassed Paul Konerko, and ended up an infield hit. He was followed by a somewhat less improbably Anderson walk, and yet the Sox ended the frame without scoring.

22 year-old rookie Jake Thompson, already on his third organization after having arrived from Texas in the Cole Hamels trade, made the start for the Phillies. Thompson was coming off of a stretch of four-straight starts in which he allowed two runs or less. That third inning two-out attack was his only pain point of the night, but it broke his streak and kept the White Sox from falling absolutely flat, which means he’ll probably get a good dressing down by his pitching coach.

The bullpen managed to survive the rest of the game post-Shields without allowing any further scoring, and that included a Matt Albers inning! Omar Narvaez caught his first would-be base stealer in that same frame.

Jeanmar Gomez opened the door for a Sox comeback in the ninth. With the Sox down four runs, A leadoff single by Todd Frazier was followed up by a two-out infield single from Leury Garcia, and a wild pitch walk to Justin Morneau which scored Frazier. Adam Eaton chased Gomez with a double to left center that scored a pair more and Anderson stepped to the plate to face Michael Mariot, on in a real live save situation and with the Phillies clinging to a one-run lead.

But it was not meant to be. Anderson grounded out quietly to short, and Mariot recorded the first save of his career.

Team Record: 72-79

Next game is Wednesday at Philadelphia at 6:05pm CT  on CSN

Lead Photo Credit: Bill Streiker – USA Today Sports Images

In that light, Shields wasn’t that bad Wednesday.

He was still sort of bad, though, and the Sox lost, no thanks in part.

1. Holding the Sox to a mere 3-0 deficit in the sixth, Shields was one out–nay, one strike–away from the platonic ideal of a quality start: six innings, three earned runs. Instead, Shields hung an 0-2 curve to Tommy Joseph, and crumpled into a crouch as it flew out to left-center behind him. Just for good measure and the proper level of knife-twisting, it wound up being the decisive run of the game when the Sox ninth-inning rally died at 5-3, and it made sure the garish 2.58 HR/9 he game into the game with improbably went up.

2. After twirling a perfect first inning–second start in a row–Shields ran into trouble in the second, with two outs and the bottom of the order coming for him. Joseph bashed a double, Aaron Altherr sprayed an RBI single to right, and Freddy Galvis plated him as well with line drive to right-center that Adam Eaton let roll past him in center.

Not done, Shields allowed Cesar Hernandez to flip an elevated 91 mph fastball out to the opposite field and into the bullpen in left to lead off the third. Otherwise, Shields was, flashing competence? He spun some nice curves on the night, struck out six and walked none, and had enough legit reason for confidence in the pitch that you can understand how he found himself hanging one to Joseph at the end of the sixth. Once you get over his constant vulnerability to getting crushed at any given moment, it was one of his stronger efforts.

3. Despite the lack of swing-and-miss stuff or top velocity, Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff faced the minimum number of Sox hitters through five innings, with an Eaton single erased by a double play in the fourth being his only baserunner early on. Like Shields, however, he seemed to get unraveled by the bottom of the Sox order. Avisail Garcia led off the sixth with a single, and came home when Dioner Navarro blasted a center-cut fastball out to right for his first home run since July 4. The outburst made it a game again, and chased Eickhoff after six even though he was only at 71 pitches.

4. After an improbable scoreless inning of work from Matt Albers, Dan Jennings was brought into the eighth solely to face Ryan Howard, and gave up a single to right. Tommy Kahnle took over to add some right-handed firepower, and promptly walked Cameron Rupp, and allowed Altherr to rip an insurance-run scoring single to left to bring home pinch-runner Emmanuel Burriss. Letting Howard bat against the lefty doesn’t seem much more sane than allowing him to run, but the Phillies chose right in each case.

5. It wound up only looking and feeling bad, because the Sox rally in the ninth against Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez could only get so close. After Jose Abreu drilled a single to keep his on-base streak alive at 20 games, Todd Frazier worked a two-out walk, and Garcia hung back and sprayed a hanger down the right-field line to plate Abreu. Those heroics brought Navarro back to the plate with the tying run on base and the chance to have his moment of the season, but a weak grounder second ended it.

Team Record: 60-65

Next game is Thursday at 7:10pm CT vs. Seattle on CSN

Lead Image Credit: Mike Dinovo // USA Today Sports Images

Accepting the fact that the Sox have actually been able to win games again after that effort, it’s still been a quick path back to dominating another major league team.

1. Thompson’s fourth pitch of the night was blasted by Adam Eaton off the top of the left-center of the wall for a leadoff triple, and he was quickly home on a Tim Anderson groundout to stake Carlos Rodon to an early 1-0 lead. Thompson tiptoed around two walks, but escaped the first and got to the third inning before the top of the order did another number on him.

Eaton bunted for a leadoff single, and raced home when Anderson lofted a triple of his own just over Peter Bourjos‘ head in right. After walking Melky Cabrera for the second time on the night already, Thompson was lucky his hanger to Jose Abreu only resulted in a bouncer up the middle to push the lead to 3-0.

2. Despite allowing a Todd Frazier sacrifice fly to end the third inning down 4-0, Thompson pitched a perfect fourth, only to face the top of the order again. After issuing his third walk to Cabrera of the night, Abreu found a fastball he liked enough to drill his third home run in as many night out to left. Switching to a change didn’t help, since Justin Morneau strode up and swatted his own solo blast out to right to go back-to-back with Abreu.

7-0 wound up being a bigger deficit than the Phillies could manage, especially since it went to 9-0 the next inning.

3. Rodon, showing shades of his 2015 season-ending flourish, ripped off his fourth-straight quality start. He powered up for 98 mph to blow away Tommy Joseph and Cameron Rupp to pitch over two singles in the first. While typically, if Rodon is the zone at all he’s racking up strikeouts, he found the joy of easy outs Tuesday. After sneaking a high slider past Carlos Ruiz to lead off the second, he allowed one more baserunner–a walk to Tyler Goeddel, his only free pass of the night–through the fifth, without recording another whiff.

As promising as Rodon has been through August, he’s maxed out at six innings each time. All the quick outs allowed him to make it through…6.2 innings. After the scoreless outing, he’s lowered his ERA from 4.67 to 4.02 in August.

4. The big offensive night for the Sox allowed a rare night off for Nate Jones and David Robertson. Chris Beck came in with two outs in the seventh and immediately allowed a massive home run to sprightly infielder Freddie Galvis, but took the Sox through the eighth without further damage before Jacob Turner struck out two in a scoreless ninth. He’s got a 2.16 ERA in 8.1 innings of relief.

5. Avisail Garcia banged a double and scored in his first game back from injury but also struck out twice. Anderson’s OBP is up to .301 after a two-hit night, and Abreu is up .285/.341/.455 on the year. That he now has the highest OPS of any offensive regular is either a happy return to his rightful throne, or a really sad total to be the highest OPS on the team. Or both.

Team Record: 60-64

Next game is Wednesday at 7:10pm CT vs. Philadelphia on CSN.

Lead Image Credit: Mike Dinovo // USA Today Sports Images