Levine: James Shields Bombs In White Sox Debut

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Right-hander James Shields was the question, not the answer Wednesday evening.

In his White Sox debut, Shields was blown up by the Washington Nationals, torched for seven runs in two-plus innings in an eventual 11-4 loss at U.S. Cellular Field. The 84-pitch effort was alarming on more than just the surface of a humiliating defeat. Shields had zero stuff or command. His fastball topped out at 90 mph, and his pitches had little to no movement.

It was the second start awful start for Shields, who allowed 10 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings in his final start for the Padres before being dealt last Saturday.

White Sox team doctors certainly signed off on the medicals of Shields before the trade with the Padres. Shields quickly traced the root of his problems Wednesday.

"Fastball location really," Shields said. "I need to get better location with the fastball. I need to be more aggressive with it. When I do have better fastball location, all of my off-speed pitches are working. Today was not a good day. I didn't do my job. I need to get better."

Once again, the residual impact on the bullpen of a rotation start gone bad could have lasting effect on the how manager Robin Ventura is able to utilize his pitchers moving forward. The rotation has only given the White Sox a total of 11 innings total in the last three games, as Jose Quintana and Mat Latos have been roughed up too.

Now 29-30, Chicago has dropped under.500 for the first time in 2016. The White Sox have lost 20 of their last 26 games.

The shot in the arm they expected from Shields' first start here blew up in their face.

"Not the greatest start," Ventura said of the debacle. "I think he wanted to come in and eat up some innings and pitch a good game. They got to him early. He just struggled through it. Once he started struggling and getting it up, the home runs came in there."

In his short outing, Shields gave up eight hits, including three homers, and two walks. He's allowed an MLB-worst 45 home runs since the start of 2015. He gave the White Sox no chance against Nationals ace Max Scherzer, who fired seven shutout innings of five-hit baseball.

"You definitely have to review it," Shields said of the loss. "I was kind of all over the place today. My fastball location wasn't very good. I was not getting ahead of hitters. When I did get it over the plate, they hit it out of the yard."

It turned out so bad for the White Sox that on the night their big acquisition debuted, they trotted out outfielder J.B. Shuck to pitcher the ninth inning. He allowed one run.

For Shields, it's work and wait until his next outing, against the Tigers.

"You never want to come to a new team and expect to do that," Shields said. "There are better days coming. I know that. This team is very positive, they have a good vibe in here. We are losing games right now, but we have that good vibe. We are trying to stay positive, and it will get better."

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.