Morneau’s 3 RBIs back Shields against Rays

CHICAGO — James Shields will not lose 20 games this season, and the White Sox (75-81) still have a chance to finish at .500 by virtue of their 7-1 victory over the Rays Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field. It was a third straight win for the White Sox, who had lost six in a row prior to this current streak.

Shields had not won since July 26, when he hurled 7 2/3 scoreless innings at home against the National League Central champion Cubs, and now has a 6-18 overall mark with one start remaining. Since that late-July outing, Shields posted an 0-6 record with a 9.46 ERA over 10 starts moving into the opener of this four-game set. The one-time Rays’ ace yielded one run on seven hits over six innings, striking out six and walking two. He kept the baseball in the ballpark after allowing 18 home runs in his last 45 2/3 innings.

“Early in the game, they did a good job of working the count,” Shields said. “I got ahead of hitters and was throwing some really good pitches, actually, that they were just spitting on and working the count. They got my pitch count up early, but I ended up grinding it out.”

As a member of the Rays, Shields won 87 regular season games with a 3.89 ERA in seven seasons and produced two postseason wins for Tampa Bay. Drew Smyly fell to 7-12, as the White Sox got to the southpaw for three runs on seven hits over five innings and 97 pitches. Chicago scored in the first on Justin Morneau’s sacrifice fly and added single runs in the fourth and fifth, before Morneau put the White Sox in control with a two-run blast in the seventh. Carlos Sanchez’s two-run blast to left in the eighth completed the scoring.

Tampa Bay had a chance in the seventh, when reliever Tommy Kahnle walked Logan Forsythe and Corey Dickerson to start the frame. But Evan Longoria hit into an around-the-horn double play, from Todd Frazier to Sanchez to Jose Abreu, and Dan Jennings retired Brad Miller on a ground ball back to the mound. The White Sox turned four double plays, three of the 5-4-3 variety.

“Obviously not the best representation today of what we think we’re capable of,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Just a frustrating game on offense.

“We had some opportunities that we didn’t make the most of, for sure. They seemed to make some big pitches when it mattered. Got some crucial double-play balls that quieted our offense down a …

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