White Sox: Jose Quintana Helps South Siders Complete 3-Game Sweep Over Royals
By Brian Draus
White Sox ace notches first victory of season, helps team sweep division foe Kansas City Royals. South Siders move to two games over .500 with win.
The Chicago White Sox completed a three-game sweep at Guaranteed Rate Field on Wednesday defeating the Kansas City Royals 5-2. Jose Quintana notched his first win of the 2017 campaign with a ten-strikeout performance in just six innings of work. He allowed two runs, however one was unearned due to a fifth-inning error by first baseman Jose Abreu.
Speaking of Abreu’s miscue, it was a painful one for the Sox first baseman. After Alcides Escobar singled up the middle, Cheslor Cuthbert hit a grounder to Abreu’s right. Unfortunately for Abreu, his feet went out from under him to harmful results. While falling he did the splits, which led to a right hip flexor strain. As of now, Abreu is listed as day-to-day.
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Before the injury, Abreu made a big impact on the game with his bat. He doubled both times he went to the plate, not to mentioned drove home a man and touched the dish himself. Abreu’s average is now over .250 (.253 to be exact), not to mention he now has eight RBI’s on the season.
Reverting back to Quintana, this was his best start of the year by far. He dominated the Royals, to the extent that 55.6 percent of the outs he recorded (10 of 18) were without a ball being put in play. Quintana’s control was very good to as to boot, considering only a pair of Royals reached via the walk (Alex Gordon, Whit Merrifield).
While Quintana returned to form on Wednesday, it nearly ended in familiar fashion for the Sox left-hander. After the Royals drew even in the top of the sixth inning, Avisail Garcia hit a monster 451-foot homer just to the left of the batters eye in center field. That shot was a momentum-breaker for the Royals, due to the fact that starter Nathan Karns was one out away from ending the sixth.
Over the final three innings, the Sox bullpen would not allow a Royals base runner to reach third base. They may have been aided a bit by Leury Garcia’s solo home run, which extended the lead to 5-2. No runners would touch the plate after the bottom of the seventh inning, much of which had to do with the strong work from the Sox bullpen.
Next: Jose Abreu Leaves Game Due to Injury
Speaking of the Sox pen, David Robertson continued his dominance by shutting down the Royals in the ninth inning for his fifth save in five chances. Robertson nailing it down was a fitting end to a fantastic series from the South Siders, who will head now to Detroit on a four-game winning streak. Don’t expect this upcoming series to be a cakewalk though.