ChiSox's Hudson looks like old self

Dan Hudson, the White Sox hurler who pitched his way from Class A to the Majors in 2009, did an about-face with his 2010 campaign on Sunday.

The righty allowed 17 earned runs in his first four 2010 starts for an unsightly 9.37 ERA. Pitching for Charlotte against Toledo in a matinee, he tossed seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball, striking out 10 and walking two.

The return to form comes after Hudson's worst professional outing. Facing the Columbus Clippers on Tuesday, Hudson gave up nine runs on eight hits (including a pair of homers) and a walk over the course of a single inning. Understandably, he didn't return to the mound for the second. He'd previously never allowed more than five earned runs in a single game.

Sunday's turnaround began with more trouble as Toledo's Will Rhymes worked a leadoff walk. Hudson issued another walk two batters later to Jeff Larish, but danced out of danger by getting a groundball off the bat of Jeff Frazier.

Hudson struck out the side in the second inning and didn't allow another Toledo runner to reach second base until Larish led off the the fourth with a two-bagger. Frazier again grounded out and Larish was thrown out at third while trying to advance on Deik Scram's fly ball in left-field foul territory.

Hudson coasted into the seventh, then struck out Frazier and Scram before giving up a deep fly ball to center field off the bat of Danny Worth, which fell for a double. Hudson fanned Maxwell Leon to end the inning and his outing.

Charlotte relievers Kyle McCulloch and Andrew Dobies each surrendered one hit over a scoreless inning to preserve the Knights' shutout.

C.J. Retherford was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Bats.