Quintana's season ends on down note
Jose Quintana's season ended like it started.
Not good.
Taking the mound for the first time on April 4 as the Chicago White Sox's opening-day starter, Quintana lasted just 5.1 innings against the Detroit Tigers and was rocked for 6 runs.
So much happened in between for the 28-year-old lefty, and Quintana wrapped up the season with another clunker Thursday night in Game 5 of the National League championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Traded from the White Sox to the Chicago Cubs on July 13 for Eloy Jimenez and three other prospects, Quintana made his 17th — and final — start for the North Siders and was whacked by Kike Hernandez (3 home runs, 7 RBI) and the Dodgers.
Needing to be on top of his game to prevent Los Angeles from winning the NLCS and advancing to the World Series, Quintana instead had his shortest outing of the season in an 11-1 loss to Los Angeles at Wrigley Field.
Matched up against Clayton Kershaw, his mound opponent in Game 1 of the NLCS, Quintana got into immediate trouble.
After Chris Taylor drew a walk to lead off the game, Cody Bellinger gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead with an RBI double.
Los Angeles added another run in the second inning on Hernandez's home run, but the Cubs still had hope at that stage.
Reality hit in the third, when Quintana gave up four straight hits and was lifted from the game.
Reliever Hector Rondon struck out the first hitter he faced, Logan Forsythe, but Hernandez followed with a grand slam to break the game open and help the Dodgers advance to the World Series for the first time since 1988.
Signed through next season with $10.5 million club options for 2019 and '20, Quintana was on an emotional roller coaster throughout the season.
“I've been around a lot of things this year,” Quintana said. “Too many things happened to me this year. I heard a lot about trade rumors, everything.
“But I grew up and learned how special this position is for me my first time.”
Quintana appeared to be distracted by all the trade rumors when he was still with the White Sox, and then he appeared to try too hard at times to justify the haul the Cubs gave up to get him.
He was 7-3 with a 3.74 ERA in 14 starts with the Cubs to finish up the regular season and Quintana had a stellar 1.59 ERA in the playoffs before giving up 6 runs to the Dodgers Thursday night.