At age 36 [url=http://www.officialbluejackets.com/authentic-adidas-seth-jones-jersey]Adidas Seth Jones Jersey[/url] , James Shields is not in the picture of the future for the rebuilding Chicago White Sox.

Still, he remains a big part of the present.

Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia homered and Shields limited Minnesota to four hits over seven innings, leading the White Sox to a 6-1 victory over the Twins on Wednesday night.

Shields (3-9) struck out five and walked just two in his only scoreless start of the season. The veteran right-hander lasted just 4 2/3 innings in a loss to Oakland on Friday. Before that, he had worked at least six innings in 11 straight turns and has gone at least seven innings five times. After struggling through the last two years following his arrival in a trade with San Diego, Shields has begun to settle in.

”He’s a guy that kind of balances out our rotation,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. ”He shows these guys how to grind through an inning, get through certain situations, remain calm, understand that no matter how much havoc occurs around you, the best thing is to try to execute pitches.”

Tim Anderson and Charlie Tilson each had two hits and an RBI for Chicago, which has won three straight games and four of five.

”The pitching and the defense were really good,” Shields said, ”and the hitting was phenomenal.”

Ehire Adrianza had four hits and an RBI for Minnesota, which has dropped two straight games and five of six. Twins starter Kyle Gibson (2-6) allowed five runs on 11 hits in seven innings.

The White Sox took a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Abreu and Garcia led off with singles. One out later [url=http://www.officialbluejackets.com/authentic-adidas-artemi-panarin-jersey]Adidas Artemi Panarin Jersey[/url] , Leury Garcia doubled to drive in Abreu. Anderson followed with a run-scoring single, and Omar Narvaez drove in a run with a ground out. Abreu’s solo homer in the fifth stretched the lead to 4-0.

Avisail Garcia’s solo homer in the eighth made it 6-0. The Twins tacked on a run in the ninth, but they fell to 34-42 to match their season high of eight games below the .500 mark after another night of chasing too many pitches out of the strike zone.

”Lefties had a hard time laying off the slider, especially down and in,” manager Paul Molitor said. ”We really didn’t hit too many balls hard.”

BALK TALK

With two outs in the sixth, Eddie Rosario walked and Brian Dozier singled to put runners on first and third and give Minnesota a chance to close the gap. But then the game took a bizarre turn. With Max Kepler stepping to the plate, Twins third base coach Gene Glynn suddenly was ejected by third base umpire Gerry Davis.

”He had wanted a balk the inning before,” Davis said to a pool reporter. ”I explained to him it was not a balk, told him I wasn’t sure he knew the definition of what a balk was for a stop. The next half inning he came out, brought it up again … and I ejected him.”

BALK TALK II

Later in the at-bat, Shields faked a pickoff throw to first and then spun around to throw to third baseman Yolmer Sanchez. Shields was called for a balk, which allowed Rosario to score and Dozier to move up to second.

Renteria argued, claiming Shields stepped off before faking to first, which is within the rules. After huddling [url=http://www.officialbluejackets.com/authentic-adidas-sergei-bobrovsky-jersey]Adidas Sergei Bobrovsky Jersey[/url] , the umpires overturned the balk, sending the runners back. Molitor came out to protest and was quickly ejected.

”It was suspicious in the fact that we couldn’t tell if he disengaged with the rubber at all,” Molitor said. ”There’s a lot of things about the move that are suspect to me.”

Shields then struck out Kepler looking on a 71-mph curveball to end the inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins CF Byron Buxton (broken left big toe) is scheduled to play both games of a doubleheader with Triple-A Rochester on Thursday. He’ll DH one game and play the field in the other.

UP NEXT

RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-5, 4.97 ERA) pitches the final game of the three-game series for the Twins, looking to bounce back a rough outing. He gave up for six runs on six hits in 1 2/3 innings against Texas on Saturday.

RHP Lucas Giolito (5-7, 7.01 ERA) takes the mound for the White Sox, aiming to win a second straight start.

The Tennessee Titans believe the potential reward from quarterback Marcus Mariota working with his third head coach in his fourth NFL season outweighs the risk of change.

Or sticking with the same coach.

So now the Titans are looking for a new coach to replace Mike Mularkey and build off the franchise’s first playoff win in 14 years to make them a true NFL contender.

”There’s nothing more that I want for our fans than to bring a championship here,” general manager Jon Robinson said Monday afternoon . ”I feel like it’s my charge to put the team in the best position to do that.”

The Titans fired Mike Mularkey on Monday, less than 48 hours after a 35-14 loss to New England in the AFC divisional round. Mularkey revived a team with the NFL’s worst record over two seasons and led them to their first playoff victory in 14 years only to become the first coach let go after winning a playoff game since San Francisco fired Steve Mariucci after the 2002 season.

Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk turned to Mularkey in November 2015 when she fired Ken Whisenhunt after 23 games . Mularkey went 2-7 down the stretch as the Titans finished 3-13 to land the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2016. That capped a 5-27 record over 2014 and 2015 that was the NFL’s worst.

Mularkey led the Titans to back-to-back 9-7 records – their first consecutive winning records since 2007-08. He finished with a 21-22 record after a season in which the Titans cost themselves the AFC South title with a three-game skid in December and needed to beat the Jaguars, now in the AFC championship game, to reach the postseason for the first time since 2008.

His devotion to an offense he’s known since being offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh between 2001 and 2003 may have cost him. He said Sunday he was prepared to move ”full speed” ahead after talking with Strunk. He defended offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie’s play-calling, saying he was happy with Mariota’s development.

Mularkey also said he didn’t anticipate any changes on his coaching staff a week after Strunk issued a statement on his job security . But talk of an extension since a 22-21 comeback win against Kansas City in the wild-card round ended Monday morning when Robinson and president and chief executive officer Steve Underwood told Mularkey he was being let go.

Strunk called it ”unfortunate” that they couldn’t find common ground on how to improve.

”I also view this as an important moment for our football team as we try to make that next step to sustained success on the field,” Strunk said in a statement.

Now Robinson will oversee his first coaching search with the Titans the seventh NFL team to change coaches since the start of the season. He was hired two days before Mularkey had the interim title removed in January 2016.

”This boils down to doing what we think is best for the football team moving forward, taking the next step [url=http://www.officialstarsproonline.com/authentic-adidas-jamie-benn-jersey]Adidas Jamie Benn Jersey[/url] ,” Robinson said.

Robinson said interviews with candidates could be held as early as this week, though the Titans will confirm a candidate only after an interview is completed. The general manager declined to discuss Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, saying he couldn’t comment on coaches under contract.

”This is a very attractive job for a lot of candidates,” Robinson said. ”I look forward to working with whoever the next head coach is. I think that they will see that myself and Amy will be unified with them in our vision for the football team.”

In Mularkey’s first full season, the Titans led the NFL scoring touchdowns inside the red zone, and they led the AFC while ranking third in rushing offense. Mariota also threw 26 touchdowns with only nine interceptions.

This season, the Titans failed to take advantage of an AFC South in which Andrew Luck did not play for Indianapolis and two-time defending division champ Houston lost rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson to an injury early.

Mariota also had his worst season yet with a career-worst 15 interceptions and 13 touchdowns. The run game, the basis of Mularkey’s offense, slumped to 15th in the NFL.

Robinson said the key is finding the right coach to get the best out of the Titans’ roster, and the general manager isn’t worried about Mariota working with yet another head coach.

”Marcus is a pretty resilient guy,” Robinson said. ”He’s a very mentally tough guy. He takes a lot from the standpoint of ownership in things. I have zero concern in Marcus being able to adapt and learn, and do what’s best to get the offense going.

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AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.

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