White Sox 4, Red Sox 1: Jose Quintana pitches record to the score

The White Sox returned home and gave the crowd at U.S. Cellular Field a taste of what they weren't able to see for themselves: Great pitching, great defense and good-enough hitting, especially in the late innings.

Jose Quintana once again benefited, throwing eight innings of one-run ball to improve to an unfathomable-for-him 4-1.

The White Sox offense made Quintana sweat a bit. It put a quick run on the board against knuckleballer Steven Wright in the first with a Jose Abreu RBI triple, but Todd Frazier struck out and Melky Cabrera flied out to end the inning. Likewise, a bases-loaded, one-out situation only yielded one run in the fourth, scoring on a Todd Frazier groundout.

In their defense ... well, their defense. Austin Jackson ran down David Ortiz's deep drive with a leap on the warning track in the second inning, and Adam Eaton made another athletic catch going back on a Jackie Bradley Jr. liner in the third. Throw in a sweet 3-unassisted by Jose Abreu, and the position players did their part to keep Quintana unscored upon.

Only Hanley Ramirez got in his way. Quintana gave up his first homer of the season (it took 35 innings), and it wasn't even a bad pitch. Ramirez just guessed a fastball away, and he hammered it well over the wall in right to make it a 2-1 game.

Quintana prevented the Red Sox from cutting it any closer. The hard-hit balls became less frequent, and after Ortiz lashed that line drive in the second, Quintana struck him out the next two times, first buckling his knees with a curve, then blowing high heat past him for the second.

He might've been able to go the distance, as he finished eight inning on just 101 pitches. However, his offense finally provided him insurance runs in the eighth against a Boston bullpen that dragged out the proceedings. Abreu provided the big knock, following Adam Eaton's bunt single and Jimmy Rollins' walk with a line-drive double to left to score both.

That was the only hit for the White Sox with runners in scoring position, as they went 1-for-9. They missed a chance to put the game out of a save situation, as a bases-loading Cabrera infield single was overturned by an umpire review. A Brett Lawrie walk achieved the same purpose, but Carlos Sanchez struck out and Dioner Navarro flied out to leave the sacks packed.

Not that it mattered. David Robertson didn't even put a runner on, going 1-2-3 in the ninth for his ninth save.

Record: 19-8 | Box score | Highlights