Indians 8, White Sox 6: Quintana too good, too late

For most of his eternally brief outing, Philip Humber was a one-pitch pitcher. It would be more accurate to call him a no-pitch pitcher -- fastball, curve, slider, changeup, they all got crushed.

Humber only got two swings and misses out of his 62 pitches, and they were outnumber by the swings-and-didn't-misses. Travis Hafner hit a monster solo shot to tie the game at 1 in the second inning, which opened the door for rocket after screamer after line drive. Humber gave up nine hits and two walks over 2 1/3 innings against an all lefty/switch lineup.

Credit Jose Quintana for somehow steering this game toward feel-good-story territory. Making his major-league debut, Quintana looked just as shaky as Humber early on. He retired Johnny Damon on a flyout to start his day, but walked the next two batters to bring in a run.

But after Travis Hafner hit a scalded grounder that stuck in Alexei Ramirez's mitt for a 6-3 putout, Quintana calmed down and finished his day retiring 16 of the final 17 batters he faced. Hafner was the only one to register a hit, hitting a high fly off the high wall just left of center for a triple. Quintana stranded him by getting Carlos Santana to foul out.

Quintana gave the Sox some time to try to climb back into the game, and they made it respectable. The Sox answered with runs each time Cleveland scored. In the fourth, Ramirez doubled off the wall for a run, and a Kosuke Fukudome sac fly made it 8-4.

Unfortunately, there were just too many zeroes in between. Zach McAllister settled down, and the Indians held the Sox scoreless until the ninth, when Jairo Asencio suddenly lost control. He walked Pierzynski and Alex Rios to start the inning and moved both of them into scoring position with a wild pitch. Ramirez followed with a ripped single to left to make it a two-run game.

Manny Acta called on Nick Hagadone to close it out. Dayan Viciedo had the last best chance to tie it, but he swung just under a poundable fastball, resulting in a routine fly to left. A flyout, walk and groundout later, the Indians won their third straight against the Sox.

Bullet points:

• Quintana pitched the longest relief outing since Sept. 11, 2005, when Brandon McCarthy threw 5 2/3 innings. It's the longest White Sox scoreless relief outing since Brian Keyser's 5 2/3 innings on Aug. 20, 1995.
• De Aza reached base three times, and was drilled twice by throws on the basepaths. Santana McAllister tried picking him off second, and throw hit him in the upper arm and dribbled into center field, allowing De Aza to reach third and setting up a first-inning sac fly.
• The start of the game was delayed 26 minutes due to rain.

Record: 13-16 | Box score | Play-by-play