Quintana quiets Red Sox bats
The biggest news of the night for the White Sox on Tuesday wasn't Jose Quintana pitching a no-hitter against the Red Sox until David Ortiz ended it with one out in the seventh inning on a broken-bat single.
Had Quintana retired Ortiz and recorded seven more outs without a hit, his name would have been splashed in headlines around the world, particularly his native Colombia.
“I noticed I had a no-hitter in the fifth inning, but I tried not to think about it because all I wanted to do was get outs and keep the team ahead,” Quintana said through an interpreter after the White Sox beat Boston 3-1 at U.S. Cellular Field.
As reporters made their way into the Sox' postgame clubhouse, Quintana was not at the top of the interview list, even though he delivered a standout start against one of the toughest lineups in baseball while almost making history in the process.
Instead, Chris Sale was the No. 1 attraction.
Originally scheduled to square off against the Red Sox' Clay Buchholz on Wednesday night in a classic battle of aces, Sale has been scratched from the start due to “mild tendinitis in his left posterior shoulder.”
That does not sound promising, but Sale and White Sox manager Robin Ventura both said it's a precautionary measure.
Sale said he felt some soreness after pitching 72⁄3 scoreless innings against the Angels on Friday in Anaheim, Calif. After informing the powers that be, the 24-year-old lefty was told he's not pitching against Boston.
“He's just been mentioning he's a little sore,” Ventura said. “We're protecting him. He would more than likely like to pitch. But I think you're looking at a long season, just making sure. It's just different. Before it was something else, elbow-wise. I think you're just extra careful with somebody with his talent and his age.”
Last season, his first as a starter, Sale developed elbow soreness on May 1 and was moved to the bullpen for 1 appearance before he talked his way back into the rotation.
The communication between both sides was spotty last year, but Sale and the White Sox seem to be on the same page this time around.
“I pitch every fifth day; I want to be out there,” said Sale, who is expected to make his next start. Tuesday against the Cubs. “I told them that. They told me, 'You're going to miss this one.' I said, 'I'm going to pitch tomorrow.' We collected as a group and sat in a meeting and the doctor explained to me that this is not going to happen.
“I just don't like doing it. I want to be out there. I don't want to put my job in other people's hands. That's not what I'm here to do. I'm here to do my job and make every start. What I needed to do, it just wasn't in the cards.”
Quintana (3-1) did a pretty good Sale impression Tuesday night, and the White Sox won for the sixth time in the last eight games.
Jeff Keppinger's first home run of the season, a 2-run shot off Boston's Felix Doubront (3-2) in the fifth inning, was the big offensive blow.
“I think overall, offensively we're hitting better,” Keppinger said. “That's going to help our pitching staff, and that's obviously been pretty good all year long. It seems like we've lost a lot of one-run games over the last month and a half, and if our offense can pick it up we're going to win those games.”