White Sox finally get Quintana a win
No starting pitcher in baseball has had tougher luck than Jose Quintana this season.
The White Sox’ left-hander already has set an American League record with 17 no-decisions, and his 7-6 record heading into Tuesday night’s start against the Twins belied his 3.49 ERA, the 12th lowest in the league.
“He has maturity,” manager Robin Ventura said of the 24-year-old Quintana. “He just pitches. Everybody wants their decision, whether it’s a win or a loss. That’s part of playing is that you want something out of it.
“He’s been pretty steady as far as his personality and everything else that goes with having so many games without an immediate result. He just goes about his business.”
Quintana didn’t pitch his best game in the Sox’ 4-3 win over the Minnesota at U.S. Cellular Field, but he managed to get his first victory since Aug. 16.
“Besides the high pitch count, he just continues to battle,” Ventura said. “He just kind of finds ways to get through innings, he always makes the tough pitch when he needs to, and, fortunately, he got the decision.”
In yet another long, unsightly game, Quintana labored through 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 8 hits while throwing 102 pitches.
He exited with a 3-1 lead, and the White Sox added another run in the sixth before more shaky defense tightened up the game.
In the seventh inning, the Twins scored 2 runs on 2 hits and errors by second baseman Gordon Beckham and first baseman Paul Konerko. But with runners on first and third and one out, Sox reliever Matt Lindstrom struck out Josh Willingham and got Josmil Pinto to ground out to third baseman Marcus Semien.
Semien had an error in the sixth inning.
The White Sox made 3 errors in the game, increasing their major-league lead to 116. Last season the Sox made only 70 errors, the fewest in baseball.
“We made a few mistakes there, plays you’ve seen these guys make before,” Ventura said. “Again, it’s about cleaning it up and getting better at it.
“They start somewhat of a rally (in the seventh inning) and you don’t want to sit and go down that road, but we’ve seen it enough this year. A lot of (Quintana’s) starts go for naught, but the bullpen did a good job.”
Take a break:Considering he has pitched 1422frasl;3 innings this season after throwing 701frasl;3 last year, fatigue is an obvious factor for Hector Santiago.Scheduled to start against Friday night at Detroit, Santiago is being skipped and should make one more appearance before the season ends.#147;The last few starts he#146;s had, he just looks tired,#148; manager Robin Ventura said. #147;Pitching as many innings as he has this year, just give him a rest and see what he does next time out.#148;Over his last 3 starts, all losses, the 25-year-old lefty has pitched 122frasl;3 innings and allowed 9 runs on 18 hits and 10 walks.Changing of the guard:Throughout September, manager Robin Ventura has been putting inexperienced players such as Marcus Semien, Leury Garcia, Jordan Danks and Miguel Gonzalez in the lineup as he tries to get a feel for the 2014 roster.Veteran Paul Konerko likes what he has been seeing.#147;You know, it#146;s cool to see the progression of guys that you#146;ve kind of seen,#148; Konerko said. #147;Myself, Dunner (Adam Dunn), John Danks, Beck (Gordon Beckham), guys that have been here a few years, to see guys that have come to their first big-league camp not even be close to being in the big leagues and then piece by piece over the last couple of years they#146;ve kind of turned into big-leaguers, it#146;s kind of cool.#148;sgregor@dailyherald.com