The sweep is complete. The White Sox moved to a perfect 6-0 against the Twins on Sunday thanks to Jose Quintana’s continued exceptional pitching, a few timely runs and a shutdown bullpen performance. They are now 12 games over .500.
1. We all know that Quintana cannot sustain a 1.40 ERA and 2.10 FIP for the whole season. Or, at least, we don’t think he can. Regression is probably coming, but not against these Twins, who entered Sunday with a collective 91 OPS+. Combine a cold offensive club with one of the hottest pitchers in baseball, and this is the result. Quintana allowed just one run over seven innings, so his ERA will stand at 1.40. He did run into trouble a few times, though. He allowed a double to Eduardo Nunez to start the game, walked Jorge Polanco, but got Miguel Sano to line into a double play. He allowed back-to-back hits to Eddie Rosario and Nunez in the third inning, but only one run scored on a Polanco ground out. He also allowed a couple of hits in the fourth, but nothing came of that as well. All in all, Quintana allowed just one run on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts. It looked like he cramped his hand in his final inning, but he was able to finish off the frame after the trainer took a look. It’s something to monitor, but he’s likely fine. It was business as usual.
2. Twins starter Tyler Duffey shut down the White Sox bats until the fourth, when Adam Eaton led off the inning with a walk, and Jimmy Rollins followed that with a base hit. Eaton got to third (of course) on the single, and then scored on a Todd Frazier ground out. They took the lead just one inning later, as Avisail Garcia doubled, and then Austin Jackson drove him in with a double of his own.
3. The White Sox’s seventh inning scoring onslaught continued, as they tacked on an insurance run in an odd way. Duffey struck out Garcia, but he got to first on a wild pitch. Then, Dioner Navarro knocked him home with a double. Navarro has really struggled so far this year, but that type of gap power was encouraging. Duffey finished the afternoon with only three earned runs over seven innings. He looked very sharp (nine strikeouts!); it’s not his fault that his team can’t hit.
4. The bullpen wasn’t perfect and maybe induced a bead of sweat or two, but they dealt with the heart of the Twin’s lineup in the eighth and ninth innings. Nate Jones allowed a walk and single to Polanco and Trevor Plouffe, but worked out of the two-out jam, and David Robertson earned his tenth save of the year, allowing just one walk in the ninth.
5. The White Sox are now 6-0 against the Twins this year. They won’t face them again until June 28, but one would imagine this team wants to face them every day. Cumulatively through those six games, the Sox have scored 30 runs and just allowed nine. This wasn’t dumb luck.
Team Record: 22-10
Next game is Monday vs. Rangers at 7:10 p.m. CT on WPWR
Lead Photo Credit: Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Back from the game. I didn’t think Quintana would be able to up his game this year, it has been great to see. Beginning to like this hardscrabble bunch that Kenny and Hahn have put together,