Jose Quintana did not regress, nor did he pitch a bad game. His command was off for a bit of his seven inning outing, but he made it work. He allowed just two runs, both of them in the second inning. That would have been enough for a win on most days, but the White Sox failed to score against Ivan Nova and then ran square into the three-man monster bullpen of the Yankees.
1. There was a chance that Quintana would unravel early on in this game, but he straightened out. After working a quick first inning and getting the first two outs in the second, he ran into some trouble. First he walked Chase Headley, and Aaron Hicks followed with a booming double to center field which allowed Headley to score. Then Didi Gregorius knocked Hicks home on a base hit, making the score 2-0. The Sox caught a break when Austin Romine hit a ground-rule double, a play in which Gregorius would have scored easily had the ball not bounced over the wall. Quintana managed to induce a ground out from Brett Gardner ending the threat with runners on second and third.
2. Todd Frazier hit a home run. Are we surprised? Of course not. It was a straight line drive dinger over the left-center field wall, and it brought the Sox within a run in the fourth inning. Unfortunately, it was the last time they would score on the day. Frazier is now up to .221/.313/.507 with 12 home runs. It’s so nice to have an infielder who rakes.
3. Other than the Frazier home run, there was not much else going on offensively. Nova was surprisingly good despite his 4.34 ERA coming into this game; it seems like the Yankees have made him more of a two-pitch pitcher (sinker and curveball) and it was a successful approach today. Nova allowed just the one run on four hits and a walk over five and two-thirds innings.
4. The Yankees’ lead into the sixth, combined with their desperation to pick up a win against Quintana, led to an early look to their shutdown bullpen. Dellin Betances came in to pick up four outs (four strikeouts), Andrew Miller picked up three (two strikeouts), and then Aroldis Chapman finished up for the save (two strikeouts). Luckily for the White Sox, they won’t have to face all three tomorrow.
5. Despite the victory with Chris Sale on the mound last night, this was a little disappointing. Nova is not the best pitcher in the world, so failing to score more than one run against him really ended this game in the sixth inning with that bullpen waiting in the wings. They still have a shot to win the series tomorrow, as Miguel Gonzalez will take on Masahiro Tanaka at 12:05 CT.
Team record: 24-13
Lead Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports