James Shields appeared to be cruising to a historic day on the diamond for the White Sox, but a walks undermined his special moment. A free pass to Ehire Adrianza in the sixth and a leadoff walk to Brian Dozier in the seventh ended a perfect game and spelled disaster for Shields respectfully.
Shields has a perfect game through 5 on 52 pitches. Twins have had 4 hard-hit balls and one play close to a hit. That's it.
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) May 6, 2018
Perfect game is over as Adrianza draws a one-out walk in the 6th
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) May 6, 2018
Shields was able to close the sixth without relinquishing the no-no, but after he put Dozier on first to lead off the seventh inning, the end seemed imminent. Next, Shields punched out Max Kepler for the first out of the inning and was one pitch away from closing the inning and maintaining his no-hit bid, but Eduardo Escobar dropped a single into right field in the next at-bat.
Shields not happy about the leadoff walk to Dozier. White Sox holding 2-0 lead in the 7th
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) May 6, 2018
Escobar breaks up the no-hitter with a one-out single to right-center. Shields gets an ovation from the crowd
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) May 6, 2018
From there, the wheels came off the White Sox two-run lead. Eddie Rosario drove in Dozier and after Luis Avilan was brought in to replace Shields, Logan Morrison drove in a pair with a two-out double. As quickly as it came, the White Sox lead evaporated into thin air and Shields lost the win.
Hats off to James Shields!
His outing is the longest no-hit bid for Sox pitcher since José Quintana on 5/21/13 vs. Boston (also 6.1) & second-longest no-hit bid of his career (7.0 on 8/2/09 vs. KC). #SoxStats pic.twitter.com/WsDg17tTv3
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 6, 2018
The silver lining is that Shields has been much better in his last two starts. The veteran went six strong innings against the Cardinals allowing one run on a solo homer and he followed it with an equally strong performance on Sunday.
In a year sunk in the growing pains of young talent, fans must find cause for celebration in the smallest victories. Sunday was a victory because it was something to tune in for. Shields may not pitch again for the White Sox after 2018 but he is fighting through this season as a proud veteran. He had good stuff on Sunday, but the mistakes were obvious. Too many pitches left up in the zone were a reminder that Shields’ luck would run out eventually.
There are no-hitters and perfect games where the lineup is clearly overmatched and then there are the instances where a cosmic force grants the ball safe passage through the strike zone. It was clear Big-Game James was summoning the latter.
Longest no-hit bid for a White Sox pitcher since May 21, 2013, when Jose Quintana went 6.1 vs. Boston
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) May 6, 2018
