LDN - Sports

Quintana, White Sox shut down reeling Royals

[May 03, 2017] KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jose Quintana was in complete charge Tuesday night.

Quintana threw eight strong innings and Yolmer Sanchez had three hits and drove in a run as the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 6-0 on Tuesday.

Quintana (2-4) gave up four hits, all singles, and threw 102 pitches, 65 for strikes, before being replaced by Anthony Swarzak. He walked two and struck out seven.

"I kept the ball down and got a lot of ground balls," said Quintana, who has beaten the Royals in back-to-back starts.

Quintana wanted to return to the mound for the ninth, but manager Rick Renteria said he had thrown enough pitches.

"Did he have that inclination (to finish the game)? Absolutely," Renteria said. "But I think he got through 100-plus pitches. It didn't make sense to send him back out just for the sake of that. It was just better to close it out with (Anthony) Swarzak.

"I thought Jose attacked the strike zone a lot. I think his breaking ball and off-speed pitches were working effectively. I think he had a nice plan on how he was going to attack everybody."

It was the 10th defeat in the past 11 games for the Royals (8-17).

Royals starter Danny Duffy (2-2) was roughed up for six runs on 10 hits and two walks in five-plus innings. The White Sox (14-11) have beaten Duffy in back-to-back starts.

"I just wasn't putting people away," Duffy said. "I got, seemingly, everybody with two strikes on them, ahead in the count and I just wasn't putting them away. It's a shame that it had to go the way it did. I've just got to be better."

The White Sox scored two runs in each of the second and third innings to take a 4-0 lead.

Todd Frazier led off the second with a single, and Avisail Garcia walked. Geovany Soto fell behind in the count 1-2 before driving in Frazier with a single to center. Willy Garcia, who was just promoted from Triple-A Charlotte, got Avisail Garcia home with a fielder's choice groundout.

Sanchez doubled to lead off the third and he stopped at third on Jose Abreu's single. After Frazier walked to load the bases, Avisail Garcia's second single scored Sanchez. Soto's sacrifice fly got Abreu home. Avisail Garcia upped his American League-leading batting average to .382.

Duffy threw 75 pitches and gave up eight hits in the first three innings. He coaxed Abreu to ground into a double play in the first to pitch out of a jam.

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White Sox starting pitcher Jose Quintana (62) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

"Danny labored, really, from the first inning on," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "You know, he gave up some hits. The balls that he gave up early in the count, hits, they were hit pretty good. (Tim) Anderson with a line drive to left to lead off the game. There was a line drive down the left field line, Melky (Cabrera) hit a ball well.

"But, late in the count with two strikes, they just found ways to put the ball in play. They hit balls off the end of the bat, jam shots that found holes. He just labored. He labored with his off-speed stuff and spotting his fastball."

Quintana limited the Royals to two singles over the first five innings.

"You know his ball's always been a little bit sneaky," said Whit Merrifield, who had one of the four hits off Quintana. "Tonight he did a good job of pitching up in the zone. It looks good coming in and you just can't quite get the barrel to it. He did a good job of that tonight and his curveball's always been a pretty good pitch. He's able to spot it where he wants to. He's a good pitcher and he's got good stuff, and when his command's a sharp as it was tonight it's going to be tough."

Leury Garcia and Sanchez added RBIs in the sixth to pad the White Sox's lead.

Chris Young, who replaced Duffy, allowed one hit and hit a batter over three scoreless innings. Left-hander Travis Wood, making his first appearance since April 24, pitched a scoreless ninth.

NOTES: The White Sox recalled OF Willy Garcia from Triple-A Charlotte and started him in left. He was hitting .294 with four homers, 13 runs and 13 RBIs in 18 games with the Knights. He replaced OF Jacob May, who was optioned to Charlotte after the game Monday. ... Royals 1B Eric Hosmer extended his hitting streak to six games with a fourth-inning single. ... White Sox RHP Mike Pelfrey and Royals RHP Nathan Karns are the pitching probables for Wednesday. They both are looking for their first victory of the season.

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