John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
After a fantastic rookie campaign in 2012 and a stellar camp this spring, all signs pointed to a break out year for Jose Quintana. However, the lefty was roughed up in his first outing of 2013 as he allowed five earned runs in just four innings of work.
Thankfully, Quintana has rebounded nicely for the Chicago White Sox since his lackluster start to the season. The 24-year-old hurler followed up his outstanding start last week in Cleveland with another quality outing tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays. Throwing 6.2 innings of shutout baseball, Quintana led the Sox to a 7-0 victory over the Blue Jays this evening in Toronto.
Quintana now owns a streak of 13.2 straight innings without allowing a run, and it seems as if the left-hander is ready to stake his claim as an ace on the Sox pitching staff. After his first outing of the year there may have been some talk of Quintana losing his starting job once the injured John Danks returns from the DL, but the young hurler has made it very clear that he belongs in the Pale Hose rotation with his last two starts.
The reason Quintana has been so successful recently is simple: he’s throwing strikes. In his start tonight, Quintana threw 72 of his 104 pitches for strikes and the lefty was challenging the opposing hitters the entire game.
Although I highly doubt he’ll be able to allow zero earned runs in every start of 2013, I am fairly confident Quintana will give the Sox a chance to win each time he takes the mound this season.
With their win tonight, Chicago is now 7-8 on the year. Once they finish up their four-game series with the Jays Thursday night, the Sox will head back to the Windy City for a ten-game home stand.
Matt Malecha is a Chicago White Sox writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMalecha and add him to your network on Google.
