roster as a relief pitcher and posted a 1.51 ERA in the first half of the season, beginning to get appearances late in games the White Sox were leading in late May. An injury to Jim O'Toole and struggles by John Buzhardt gave him an opportunity to start in July, and he won the first game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Athletics on July 16, outpitching Catfish Hunter as he held the A's to one run in innings. He was 3–0 as a starter in July, but after losing his first two starts of August, he returned to more of a relief role, though he did win a start against the New York Yankees on August 22. In 51 games (eight starts), he had a 4–2 record, four saves, a 2.45 ERA, 47 strikeouts, 28 walks, and 95 hits allowed in innings pitched. Wilhelm continued to help Wood with his knuckleball in 1968 spring training, and White Sox pitching coach Marv Grissom convinced Wood to do away with his pitching windup. Wood had been reducing it since the previous year, but dispensing with it entirely allowed him to sneakily throw his fastball to hitters, making it a deceptive counterpart to the knuckleball. Struggles by Locker led to Stanky utilizing Wood at the end of games more often beginning in May. On June 23, he started the second game of a doubleheader against the Red Sox, holding Boston to one run in eight innings in a 10–1 win. He made one other start on August 10, allowing one earned run in six innings against the Indians, though an error by Duane Josephson led to two unearned runs scoring as well, and Wood took the loss in the 3–2 defeat. On September 1, he pitched the final five innings of a game against the Minnesota Twins, allowing just one run (a home run to Harmon Killebrew) as he picked up the victory in a 5–4 win. He set a major league record on September 21 with his 83rd appearance of the year. Wood finished the season with 88 games pitched, briefly a record until Wayne Granger appeared in 90 for the Cincinnati Reds the next year. As of 2020, his 88 games pitched ties him with four other relievers for 15th-most in a season. He had a 13–12 record (leading the White Sox in wins), a 1.87 ERA, 74 strikeouts,