Mets rout Quintana 10-2, Cubs trending in wrong direction
The results have been bad enough for Jose Quintana lately.
The only way the optics could have been worse Saturday would be if Eloy Jimenez and the Chicago White Sox were still in town.
The New York Mets pounded Quintana for 9 hits and 9 runs (8 earned) in 4⅓ innings in a 10-2 rout of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Quintana saw his record drop to 4-7 and his ERA rise from 3.87 to 4.50.
“Rough day,” he said. “Really frustrating for me trying to get results. Every start, I try to win the game. To (have) a day like that is really tough. I feel really bad. I'm going to continue to do my job and get a result.”
Quintana has not posted a winning decision since May 5. Over his last 6 starts, he has allowed 42 hits and 23 earned runs over 35⅓ innings pitched for an ERA of 5.86.
Many fans in the crowd of 41,106 booed him off the field when manager Joe Maddon took him out of the game after he allowed his third homer, a 2-run shot to Wilson Ramos. Quintana also gave up homers to Pete Alonso and to Todd Frazier. The Mets scored in each of the first six innings.
The Cubs obtained Quintana from the White Sox in July 2017 in exchange for hitting prospect Jimenez and pitching prospect Dylan Cease. Earlier in the week, Jimenez's ninth-inning home run proved to be the game winner against the Cubs.
Quintana had no answer, either real or symbolic.
“There was no finish on the pitches today,” said Maddon, whose team fell to 41-35 but still leads the National League Central. “That's the best way I can describe it. Normally he has that carry at the end. It just wasn't there. I know that may sound ambiguous or obscure, but that's what you see from the side, where the ball jumps or it doesn't. They were on him.”
The Cubs are 4-8 over their last 12 games, and they have not looked crisp or sharp for much of that time.
They were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position Saturday. Catcher Willson Contreras was charged with 2 passed balls. Victor Caratini, a catcher playing first base, missed a catch and was charged with an error.
Caratini did provide some comic relief when he pitched the ninth inning and went 1-2-3. He fielded Ramos' tapper near the third-base line and made a leaping, spinning throw to first base to get Ramos. Caratini doffed his cap to the crowd as he exited the field to cheers.
Maddon said the Cubs come to play every day, but he recognized the poor play.
“We played a terrible game,” he said. “There's no question we had a bad game. We have to do better than that. We are better than that. I cannot defend some of the plays. I can't. We're better than that.
“I still anticipate we're going to pitch better. We have to play a complete game. We will. We will get back to normalcy on the field. I believe the pitching will pitch better. We got to take advantage of run-scoring opportunities. We're going to have to beat some better pitching, too. It's not easy. The league's gotten better and there are no pushovers.”