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 The Milwaukee Brewers learned that lesson the hard way Wednesday as
the Chicago White Sox hit a pair of first inning home runs then
watched the left-hander strike out a season-high 10 batters in a 4-2
victory at Miller Park.
"He was fantastic," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "He threw
great. He was throwing strikes, he got ahead early."
Two bad starts had ballooned Quintana's early-season ERA but he'd
been stellar as of late and held opponents to five runs over 19
innings of work in his last three starts.
He had nothing to show for that effort, though, thanks to an offense
that mustered a paltry 1.42 runs per game during that stretch.
All that changed in the first inning against Brewers right-hander
Jimmy Nelson, who gave up back-to-back solo home runs to right
fielder Avisail Garcia and first baseman Adam LaRoche as the White
Sox claimed an early 3-0 lead.
"It felt good," Quintana said. "It helped my confidence."
He plowed through Milwaukee's lineup, striking out seven of the
first 10 batters and allowed just a double and two walks through his
first six innings.
The Brewers finally put pressure on Quintana in the seventh, with
leadoff singled by left-fielder Khris Davis and right fielder Ryan
Braun, but Quintana left both stranded by retiring the next three in
order, notching two more strikeouts in the process.
He also got a little defensive help from second baseman Emilio
Bonifacio, who robbed Brewers center fielder of a possible RBI
single for the first out of the inning.
"He had been struggling before he came here, but if he continues to
pitch like that, he's going to be one of the top guys in the
league," Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez said. "Every ball was
down in the strike zone, and when he wanted, you could see a couple
pitches at 94 when he wanted to finish."
Ventura sent Quintara out for the eighth, put went to the bullpen
after giving up a leadoff triple to third baseman Hector Gomez, who
scored later in the inning to put Milwaukee on the board.
"He was strong, even there at the end," Ventura said. "But once
(Gomez) hit the triple, we had Jake (Petricka) warming up and he's s
a big ground ball guy. A couple got in there but he got the big
double play when we needed it."
Milwaukee added one more in the ninth when Carlos Gomez homered off
closer David Robertson. Robertson walked first baseman Adam Lind
next but retired the last two batters for his seventh save of the
season.
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"I thought we battled great the last two innings," Brewers manager
Craig Counsell said. "Their second baseman made a play. To me,
that's the difference in the game. That stops an inning in the
(seventh). We would have had bases loaded with nobody out at least.
That was a big play."
Nelson settled down after his rough first inning and made it into
the seventh, when he gave up a double to third baseman Gordon
Beckham and an RBI single to Bonifacio.
Nelson's final line had him down for four earned runs on eight hits
and two walks with three strikeouts.
"I just tried to eat up some innings to try to give us a chance to
come back," Nelson said. "I wanted to throw up some zeroes and give
them some time."
NOTES: Chicago won consecutive road games and its first road series
for the first time this season. Overall, the White Sox have won four
of their last five games and three straight series to climb within
three games of .500. ... Milwaukee SS Jean Segura was a late scratch
because of a sore right pinky finger. ... Brewers 3B Aramis Ramirez
missed his sixth straight game because of tightness in his lower
back. With an off-day scheduled for Thursday, manager Craig Counsell
is hoping to have Ramirez back in the lineup Friday when the team
opens a weekend series against the Mets at Citi Field. ... The White
Sox have eight home runs in their last seven games after going
without a homer in the previous nine. Chicago is last in the
American League and 20th in baseball this season with 20 home runs.
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