White Sox 2, Mariners 1 (10 innings): Classic Quintana

Finally, Jose Quintana had a start befitting of his reputation, no-decision and all.

Quintana pitched eight innings of one-hit ball, but the White Sox still needed 10 innings to find the winning run, which Melky Cabrera provided with a two-out double.

Kevan Smith of all people started the rally by geting plunked on a 1-1 count by Tony Zych. Leury Garcia pinch-ran, and Willy Garcia bunted him to second, giving the Sox two chances to get the run home. Tim Anderson could only advance Leury to third on his groundout to second, but Cabrera anticipated an 0-2 slider down and in and roped it to right for the decisive blow.

Cabrera rebounded from an awful first nine innings to play hero, but the story of the night was Quintana, who allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out seven over eight innings. Unfortunately, it was enough for one run, because the hit was a leadoff triple by Danny Valencia in the second inning (he poked a pretty good changeup into the bigger outfield gap). Valencia came home on a sacrifice fly, giving the Mariners a 1-0 lead that looked like it might hold up, based on the swings the White Sox took against Ariel Miranda.

Miranda befuddled the Sox early on. He coaxed unconvincing offers on even his fatter pitches, which decreased in frequency as the game hit the middle innings. He held the Sox hitless over the first 4¹⁄₃ innings, and scoreless into the sixth.

That’s when Miranda started to slip a little bit, and at least Jose Abreu was able to take advantage of it. With two outs and a 2-0 count, Miranda tried to get back into the at-bat with a get-me-over slider, and Abreu hoisted it into the upper deck, 464 feet away. The solo shot stands as the longest White Sox homer of the year.

The Sox only had a few mild threats before Cabrera’s game-winning single, and they didn’t get a baserunner to third in regulation. Still, that was more than Quintana allowed. He was masterful, spotting his fastball on the corners and deploying his curveball in fastball counts more effectively. He also threw 12 changeups according to Brooks, when he hadn’t thrown more than eight in any other appearance.

He finished his evening needing only 99 pitches to get through eight, and he retired the last 13 batters he faced provided you count Ben Gamel, who technically reached when Yolmer Sanchez dropped his pop-up behind second base, but was caught in between first and second when Sanchez recovered, and tagged out after the ensuing rundown.

Quintana pitched long enough that Rick Renteria only had to utilize David Robertson, who retired all six batters he faced to pick up his third victory of the season. That’s one more than Quintana has.

Record: 18-22 | Box score | Highlights