Jose Quintana’s pitching leads to 3rd straight White Sox win
Jun 29, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Chicago White Sox center fielder
Adam Eaton(1) celebrates with shortstop
Alexei Ramirez(10) after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
What a day by Chicago White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana, as his pitching kept the Toronto Blue Jays scoreless for a 4-0 win, the third consecutive victory by the White Sox over the Toronto Blue Jays Sunday afternoon.
It was the first shutout by the White Sox this year, their 83rd game of the season. The win also moves to to 39-44, five games under the .500 mark.
The third straight win caps off an 11 road games in 11 days for the White Sox. It was a trip where they finished with an record of 4-7 in games against the Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles and the Blue Jays.
Jun 29, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher
Jose Quintana(62) throws a pitch during the first inning in a game against theToronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
The White Sox even won the series against the Blue Jays, 3-1, losing the first game of the series on Thursday. They were swept in four games by the Twins to start the road trip, and had one win in their three games at Baltimore.
Maybe the best way to describe this road trip is a roller coaster with all the ups-and-downs.
I can’t say this was an overall successful road trip, but the end of the road slate turned out well for the “Good Guys.”
Now it will be left up to the White Sox if they want to continue this trend of winning on Monda-Wednesday when they host the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at US Cellular Field.
Now for Quintana’s pitching.
The left-hander Quintana went seven shutout innings, allowing no runs on just three hits and two walks. He struck out seven in the process of gaining his fifth win of the season, with his record now at 5-7 overall with an ERA of 3.44.
Counting Sunday’s win, Quintana has now allowed just three earned runs in his past three starts. In that span of games he’s pitched of 21 innings, going seven innings in each.
As for this ball club, this is the first time the White Sox have won three consecutive games since May 26-28 against the Cleveland Indians. Since that three-game winning streak the White Sox are 11-17.
At the plate the White Sox had to face their old friend in Mark Buehrle. The loss was charged to Buehrle (10-5), as he pitched eight innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out five, with his season ERA at 2.50.
Sergio Santos allowed two earned runs in the ninth off two hits and one walk in relief of Buehrle.
Jun 29, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Mark Buehrle (56) throws a pitch during the first inning in a game against the Chicago White Sox at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago finished with eight hits, with Alexei Ramirez going 2-for-4, and Moises Sierra was also 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. Sierra homered in the fourth inning.
Jose Abreu batted in Gordon Beckham (who doubled) in the third inning (with two outs), his 64th of the season.
The final two runs scored off the bat of Tyler Flowers who singled on a line drive to score Paul Konerko and Sierra.
This game on Sunday showed the White Sox are able to play “big boy” baseball if they have the pitching (starting or relief) backing up what they do offensively.
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Now on a note of Buehrle … though the White Sox defeated him, and he hasn’t played for the team in what is a third season, it is still weird seeing him in another uniform that isn’t the White Sox.
But for this ’14 ball club, they need to start playing this type of baseball they’ve had the past three games on a more consistent bases, and stop giving away wins in the late innings.
If they can stop that, who knows what can happen, because the way they’ve played the past three days showed they have potential to win games against winning teams.