Athletics 9, White Sox 0: James Shields started

Now we know that James Shields isn’t in the false hope business.

Facing a lackluster offense of a team that lost five in a row, Shields looked no different from usual. He gave up three homers over 4⅔ innings, and departed on an amusingly frustrating note. He had retired the first two batters of the fifth inning, only to see the rest of the frame go homer-double-homer-walk-error. A bad throw by Tim Anderson made the last run of Shields’ seven an unearned one.

Meanwhile, Kendall Graveman threw a 98-pitch Maddux, facing one over the minimum. He gave up two hits -- one to Jose Abreu, one to Adam Eaton — but both were erased by doubling-offs on lineouts to the right side. Only a fielding error by Yonder Alonso on a Justin Morneau grounder kept the Sox from sending only 27 to the plate.

Shields dropped to 5-15 with a 5.98 ERA on the season, or 3-8 with a 7.62 ERA with the White Sox. He has allowed a whopping 20 homers for the Sox over 69⅔ innings.

The lone bright spot: Latham's Tommy Kahnle, who was the only Sox pitcher out of four to not allow a run. He pitched the second-most innings, too, retiring all six batters he faced. Carlos Sanchez made a nice running over-the-shoulder catch too, I guess.

Record: 57-64 | Box score | Highlights