White Sox starter James Shields’ struggles continued in Saturday’s loss to the Twins. He lasted only 2 1/3 innings after giving up five runs, tweaking his back in the process. There was some thought that Shields would be shut down for the remainder of the season.
Shields, however, underwent an MRI which came up clean which means he’ll likely make his next start, CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes reports. The club has a day off on Thursday so Shields could be moved back to Saturday without severely interrupting the rotation.
Shields, since coming to the White Sox, has an ugly 7.50 ERA with a 48/40 K/BB ratio in 84 innings. He pitched comparatively much better with the Padres before he was traded in early June, racking up a 4.28 ERA and a 57/27 K/BB ratio in 67 1/3 innings.
The White Sox have shields under contract through at least 2018, paying him $21 million annually over each of the next two seasons, so they’ll hope for better results next year.
