Shields claims first win with White Sox

James Shields’ previous outing was a stepping stone.

“He got over the hump of that shock of getting beat around a little bit,’’ manager Robin Ventura said.

He meant of getting beat around a lot — like for 32 runs over his previous four starts in only 11⅔ innings.

Shields’ five-plus innings with three runs allowed against the Red Sox at Fenway Park last Thursday suggested he was getting back to being what the White Sox expected when they traded for him, and he seemed to confirm that Wednesday with 6⅔ innings of one-run ball in a 9-6 victory over the Twins at U.S. Cellular Field.

“This is the best that he looked as far as just feeling comfortable,’’ Ventura said after Shields claimed his first win in a Sox uniform. “Locating, he was getting ahead. He started really using his fastball and he located it. I think after that, there was some off-speed stuff and he got guys swinging through it. This was a nice little thing to see. I’m sure it’s a breath of fresh air for him.’’

Ventura saw Shields throw first-pitch strikes to 23 of 27 Twins batters and better finish to Shields’ pitches.

“Just the way it was out of his hand, it was getting better and better.’’

Shields, 34, the only active pitcher with nine consecutive seasons of 200 innings or more, has had rough patches during his career, but he never went through a slump like that four-game stretch.

When he gave up a home run to Eduardo Nunez on his second pitch Wednesday, an uneasy feeling crept through the crowd. He escaped a third-inning jam by getting Joe Mauer to hit into a double play – the key to his outing, he said — and got an assist from right fielder Adam Eaton, who threw out Kurt Suzuki at home after banging into the right-field fence chasing down Nunez’ double.

When his night was complete, Shields walked off to a nice ovation with two outs in the seventh and the Sox leading 8-1.

It was quite a contrast to his Sox’ debut, where he was booed off the field in the third inning after allowing seven runs.

“I’m sure the fans were a little disappointed with my first couple outings. It’s always nice to have a good standing ovation,’’ he said.

On Wednesday, Shields went 6⅔ innings, allowing one run, eight hits while striking out five and walking one to pick up his first win with the Sox after two losses and two no-decisions. He threw 93 pitches, 61 for strikes.

Shields also enjoyed a slew of run support, fueled by solo home runs from Brett Lawrie, third baseman Tyler Saladino and first baseman Todd Frazier (his 22nd) as the Sox continued on their extraordinary streak of solo homers with their 11th, 12th and 13th in a row.

All Sox batters had one or more hits and seven drove in a run or more, with Saladino (homer, RBI single) and Tim Anderson (double, RBI single) each driving in two. It was Anderson’s ninth multihit game out of 18 as a major leaguer.

The Twins took some of the lustre off this Sox victory by scoring five runs in the ninth against lefties Matt Purke and Dan Jennings. An error by Lawrie didn’t help, contributing to four unearned runs, and Ventura had to bring in Nate Jones (second save) with two outs to finish it off.

The Sox improved to 39-39 and will try to win their third straight series Thursday afternoon. Shields was happy to put his new team in a position to do that.

“It was a tough stretch,’’ he said. “It’s nice to get off the schneid there and get a win but I don’t really focus on that kind of stuff. I’ve been around this game for a long time — my main focus is to win games for this team right now.’’

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Email: dvanschouwen@suntimes.com