Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado has homered in his first three at-bats in three innings against the White Sox. After showing brief glimpses of his former “Big Games James” persona in recent outings, Shields on Sunday drifted back into the pitcher Sox fans have seen more than they care to admit.
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“I was pretty much bad all-around”, Shields said. “You can’t do that against this team”. In 2002, Seattle’s Mike Cameron had three home runs by the third inning, but Cameron’s first two home runs came in the first inning.
Adam Eaton’s leaping catch at the right field wall robbed Matt Wieters of a two-run homer, in what proved to be one of the few Sox bright spots for the afternoon. According to STATS, the only other player to do that was Carl Reynolds of the White Sox on July 2, 1930, on the rod against the Yankees.
Machado’s first home run had Shields yelling into his glove. “It’s tough to do”.
Now batting.309 with 25 home runs, 67 RBI and a.368 on-base percentage through 105 appearances this season, the veteran infielder has registered the eighth multi-homer game of his career as well on Sunday.
Dylan Bundy (5-3) stuck out a career-high nine in six innings in Baltimore’s fifth win in seven games. Shields gave up four home runs – two to Manny Machado, one to J.J. Hardy and another to Chris Davis – the most he’s given up in a game since May 8, 2015. He also grounded out in the ninth inning against Michael Ynoa in his bid to become the 17th player in baseball history with four homers in the same game. “It came back over the plate, but (when) you’ve got a guy who was extremely hot and is one of the best players in the game, you can’t make mistakes like that”. “He just single-handedly put us in a hole, and I’m talking about Machado”. Instead, Shields returned to the form he displayed when he arrived to the White Sox in June.
Jose Abreu hit his third homer in four days for the White Sox, who have dropped eight of 11. After giving up a combined 10 earned runs in his last two starts, Saturday was an encouraging sign for Rodon.
Sunday’s outing marked the sixth time this season Shields has given up at least six runs and his second straight.
“I’m trying to get everybody a day (off) on this trip”, manager Buck Showalter said.
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DROPPING DOWN: Chris Davis batted sixth for the first time this season, struck out twice and walked twice. OF Austin Jackson (torn meniscus in left knee) has been at the ballpark and is off crutches, but he is not closer to returning from the disabled list, Ventura said. White Sox 2B Brett Lawrie (strained left hamstring) has been unable to get on the field and hit, but manager Robin Ventura hopes Lawrie nears a return within the next week and can go on a rehab assignment.
