White Sox turn first triple play since 2006 in 5-0 win over Texas
So much has been made about Jose Quintana's extended run of bad luck with the Chicago White Sox in recent years.
Since the 2012 season, Quintana has 53 no-decisions, and his 17 no-decisions in 2013 were an American League record.
Last year, the 27-year-old lefty was second in the AL with 25 quality starts, and Quintana ranked ninth with a 3.36 ERA. His final record? A pedestrian 9-10.
This season, Quintana is finally starting to catch some breaks.
The White Sox' offense is beginning to score some runs when he's on the mound, as evidenced in Friday night's 5-0 win over the Texas Rangers at U.S. Cellular Field.
The Sox's defense also pitched in Friday, turning the franchise's first triple play since Sept. 18, 2006, against the Detroit Tigers.
“When you kind of break it back down, it was run perfectly,” manager Robin Ventura said. “It's a head's up play, everybody pointing and filling in where they're supposed to fill in. They ran that as well as you could, and if anybody on the field deserves to have that happen for him, it's Q.
“I think that's a good sign. It's something he's earned with what he's been through. He pitched great and he deserved that.”
In the seventh inning, the Rangers loaded the bases with no outs against Quintana, and that brought Mitch Moreland to the plate.
Moreland flied out to Adam Eaton, and the right fielder threw to Jose Abreu, who doubled off Ian Desmond at first.
From his knees, Abreu threw home to catcher Dioner Navarro as the Rangers' Prince Fielder started breaking toward the plate.
Navarro threw to shortstop Tyler Saladino, who smartly ran at Fielder between third base and home. Saladino threw to Navarro, who threw to third baseman Todd Frazier, who tagged out Fielder to complete the triple play.
“Well, I never saw that before,” said Quintana (2-1), who scattered 4 hits over 7 innings. “Today that happened to me, that's so exciting. That was fun. That was fun. I enjoyed this moment.”
For some reason, Desmond drifted far off first base on Moreland's flyball that Eaton caught fairly easily in right field.
“Besides marrying my wife and the birth of my kid, to be honest with you, that's high up there,” Eaton said of the triple play. “It was unbelievable. I've never had that much fun on a ballfield. I'm very confident saying that. I've never had that much fun on a ballfield, and it couldn't have happened with a better group of guys. I've never been to the playoffs, but I've never had that type of intensity and overall joyfulness out of everybody. It was truly a team effort.”
After tagging out Desmond, who overran first base and wound up near the coach's box, Abreu's nice throw from his knees to Navarro kept the triple play alive.
“I'm very happy first because we got the victory and second because Q pitched a very good game and third because of the triple play,” Abreu said through an interpreter. “I never have been in one before and to be part of this one was special.”