However, he showed few signs of his former mastery. "I was a little gun-shy," he said of his 1977 season. "I didn't want the ball coming back over the middle again." He made his return in Chicago's 18th game of the year on April 30, allowing five runs (four earned, two home runs) in the final two innings of a 14–4 loss to the Texas Rangers. After Ken Brett was traded to the Angels in mid-June, Wood was added to the rotation on June 19, despite the fact that his ERA was 8.78 in six games (one start). He threw eight innings in the first game of a doubleheader, allowing one unearned run and earning the victory in a 2–1 triumph. In the first game of a doubleheader against the Twins on July 3, he pitched a three-hit shutout. Used on two days' rest on July 6, he held the Seattle Mariners to two runs in a complete game, 4–2 victory. That game, however, marked the final time Wood would pitch on two days' rest in his career. His ERA had fallen to 3.97 at the end of July, but Wood had a 7.02 ERA for the rest of the year. He failed to pitch more than seven innings in August, with the exception of an August 19 game against the Brewers, in which he held the team to five hits and struck out five in a complete game, 3–1 victory. On September 10, Wood tied a major league record by hitting three consecutive batters in the first inning of a game against the Angels, the latter of which forced in a run with the bases loaded. He allowed five runs in innings, absorbing the loss. Though the White Sox had 22 games left to play in the season, they did not use Wood in any of them. In 24 games (18 starts), he had a 7–8 record, a 4.99 ERA, 42 strikeouts, 50 walks, 10 hit batters (a career high), and 139 hits allowed in innings pitched.