Royals 10, White Sox 3: Jose Quintana doesn’t have it

I think we can cull Jose Quintana from the Cy Young race now.

Against a team that usually gives him a hard time, Quintana just didn’t have it today. He gave up 13 baserunners -- 10 hits, three walks — and six runs over four innings, while striking out only one.

His afternoon started with three of the first four Royals reaching, but he allowed just one run because Alex Avila cut down Whit Merrifield on a stolen-base attempt. Unfortunately for Quintana, that wasn’t a hiccup, but the theme. Alex Gordon jumped on the first pitch of the second for a fastball into the fountain to start a three-run second, and Quintana spent most of the rest of his day on the ropes.

Todd Frazier’s 37th homer off the year cut the Royals’ lead in half in the top of the fourth, but Quintana gave the two runs right back in the bottom of the inning. Tim Anderson robbed Merrifield of a leadoff single with a great diving stab and throw, but Paulo Orlando followed with a double, the first of three well-struck hits for the Royals. The second was an Eric Hosmer RBI single, and the third was Kendrys Morales’ double to the right-field gap.

Morales later crushed a spinning slider from Chris Beck for a two-run blast in the sixth, giving him half of the Royals’ RBIs.

Frazier aside, Danny Duffy cruised through the first seven innings. He flirted with a sub-100 pitch count for the first half of the game, but the White Sox eventually started to see more pitches. They ended his day two batters into the eighth, as Kevan Smith singled off Duffy (physically) to start the inning, and Jose Abreu walked. Avisail Garcia helped Smith score his first career run with a single off Kevin McCarthy, so the Sox did raise Duffy’s ERA, if nothing else.

There wasn’t much else, as the Royals again answered the Sox’ scoring inning with one of their own, resulting in two runs off Jacob Turner.

Bullet points:

*Quintana is now 1-9 with a 4.38 ERA in 22 starts against Kansas City.

*The White Sox lost their challenge in the second inning under unusual circumstances. Ned Yost came out to challenge a 4-6 fielder’s choice, arguing that Anderson’s foot left the bag before caught the ball. Robin Ventura challenged that Orlando violated the slide rule. The replay showed that Anderson lost contact, and Orlando slid early and narrowly enough to stop at second base with his hand.

*The challenge would’ve come in handy in the third, as Frazier made a great diving play behind third on his counterpart Cheslor Cuthbert, and his throw beat Cuthbert to first by a shadow of a step. Toby Basner called him safe, but that was one extra out Quintana found a way to record.

*The White Sox are now 2-7 at Kauffman Stadium this year, and this was the first one they failed to lead at any point.

Record: 72-77 | Box score | Highlights