White Sox 3, Twins 1: Chicago sweeps Minnesota again

What hasn't been written about Jose Quintana?

We've seen the numerous posts about what type of pitcher he is. How he is the most underrated pitcher in the game of baseabll today. Most recently, we've read the arguments on why he should be considered in the top echelon of pitchers.

How about a new theme. In a season seeing one of the most dominat starters in Major League Baseball start the season 7-0, Chris Sale's toughest competition to win the illustrous Cy Young very well will come within his own team. Quintana pitched 7 IP 6 H 1 ER 1 BB 5 K to lead the White Sox to a 3-1 victory for his fifth win. He didn't reach five wins until July 24th last season. In the 7th inning, Quintana appeared to have an issue with his pitching hand after throwing a fastball, but remained in the game to complete the inning.

Minnesota started with the lead after the third inning. Back-to-back singles by Eddie Rosairo and Eduardo Nunez put runners on first and third. With Jorge Polanco at the plate, manager Paul Molitor called for the hit and run to put Nunez in motion that prevented a double play on Polanco's grounder to shorstop Jimmy Rollins. Rosairo scored from third on the fielders choice, and the Twins lead 1-0. Offensively, that would be it for Minnesota. Quintana, just like Sale the night before, shut down any comeback attempts by the Twins mixing his four-seam fastball and breaking pitches beautifully to keep Minnesota's hitters off balance.

Chicago would tie the game in the fourth inning, after a dreaded lead off walk by Adam Eaton. Jimmy Rollins grounder just snuck in between the first base and second baseman for a single to move Eaton to third base. After Jose Abreu struck out on three straight curveballs from Minnesota's Tyler Duffey, Todd Frazier would plate Eaton with a grounder to third baseman Trevor Plouffe who was moving just enough in the wrong direction to throw out Eaton at home. Frazier's 21st RBI made it 1-1.

In the fifth inning Chicago would take the lead for good thanks to doubles by Avisail Garcia and Austin Jackson. Leading 2-1, Eaton's shallow fly to left field would have scored Jackson as well but Eddie Rosairo made a terrific diving catch to snag a hit away from Eaton to keep it a one-run defecit for Minnesota.  The White Sox would pick up the third run in the seventh inning, which has become a magical time of the game for Chicago. With one out, Avisail Garcia struck out swinging, Tyler Duffey's wild pitch bounced almost to the White Sox dugout allowing Garcia to reach on base. Dioner Navarro would cash in on that mistake by hitting a double to left field that scored Garcia all the way from first base. In the last two games, Navarro has hit three doubles after hitting only one double all season prior.

With a 3-1 lead, Nate Jones had a bit of shaky inning for his standards allowing two baserunners with a walk and a single. He was able to escape the jam striking out Byung Ho-Park. In the ninth inning, David Robertson closed the game out for his 10th save of the season, which included another highlight catch by Austin Jackson in center field. Oswaldo Arcia hit a bomb of a line drive to the deepest part of the park only to watch Jackson in full speed reach out at the last possible moment to make the running catch and save extra bases.

With the win, Chicago is now 6-0 versus Minnesota in 2016. They were 6-13 in 2015 against the Twins. Like many things this young season, what a difference a year makes for the South Side ballclub.

Record: 22-10 | Box Score | Play-by-Play | Highlights