White Sox 6, Mariners 1: Offense arrives in time for Jose Quintana

The White Sox found a way to erase the aftertaste from Monday night's awful loss.

Now, to make up for the four consecutive losses that came before it.

Jose Quintana kept the Mariners at bay — get it? — long enough for the cavalry to arrive. Melky Cabrera hit a go-ahead homer off Wade Miley, signaling the start of an offensive surge against a group of pitchers who hasn’t been all that effective. The game was back-heavy, but it was a well-rounded team effort nevertheless.

Quintana wasn’t in his finest form, at least over the second half of his six innings. Nevertheless, he gutted his way through a quality start with Robinson Cano’s solo shot standing as the only damage. He ultimately won the battle with the strike zone, stranding the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth by letting Daniel Robertson fly out on a center-cut 3-1 fastball.

That kept the game tied at 1, and after returning to the dugout with his evening’s work complete, Quintana watched the offense put two on the board to make him the pitcher of record. Three perfect innings from Zach Duke, Nate Jones and Carson Fulmer preserved the lead for Quintana, who is now 8-8.

This game wasn’t without its oddities. For instance, when J.B. Shuck smacked an RBI single to center to extend the Sox’ lead to 3-1 in the sixth, Avisail Garcia was caught trying to take third on a throw home that had no chance. Jose Abreu appeared to miss applying a tag after Todd Frazier’s wide throw from first in the eighth, but the play was initially ruled out, and New York didn’t see indisputable visual evidence to overturn it. Jones started the ninth with a strikeout, but Robin Ventura still went to Fulmer for the last two outs.

Fortunately, the bright spots overshadowed the confusing ones. The Sox once again played longball, and successfully this time. Brett Lawrie put the Sox ahead with a solo shot in the second inning, and Frazier put the game out of reach with a two-run shot off Joaquim Benoit in the ninth. Dioner Navarro even snapped out of his slump with a sliced line drive to right that got past the questionable effort of Franklin Gutierrez for an RBI double.

As we know from years of experience, it’s hard to look a Quintana victory in the mouth. It’s good that he’s back to .500, and the White Sox have the same opportunity for themselves on Wednesday.

Record: 46-47 | Box score | Highlights