Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Jose Quintana combined with two Chicago
relievers on a four-hit shutout to lead the White Sox to a 4-0 victory over
the Toronto Blue Jays.
Quintana (5-7) yielded just three hits along with a pair of walks while
striking out seven during his seven-inning masterpiece, which was aided by
a two-run single from Tyler Flowers and Moises Sierra's solo homer.
"He attacked the zone, and if he can get ahead and stay there and mix speeds
like he did today, he's tough," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of
Quintana.
Jose Abreu added an RBI single to help Chicago close out an 11-game road
trip with wins in the final three tests of this four-game set.
The Blue Jays' inability to generate any offense against Quintana and bullpen
members Eric Surkamp and Jake Petricka resulted in a fourth straight losing
decision for Mark Buehrle (10-5). The former White Sox hurler pitched well in
defeat, however, allowing two runs on six hits through eight innings.
Buehrle's only two blemishes came in back-to-back innings. Gordon Beckham came
through with a ground-rule double with two out in the third and Abreu sent
him home on a single to left, with Sierra making it a 2-0 lead by clobbering
a changeup over the Blue Jays' bullpen in the fourth.
"I threw a changeup pretty much right down the middle," said Buehrle of the
homer. "It's frustrating, because you know you don't have to throw much in the
strike zone [to Sierra] and I pretty much teed one up for him."
The veteran lefty was nearly spotless thereafter, finishing out his strong
stint by recording eight straight outs. Problem was, Quintana was simply
better.
Toronto mustered only two singles through the first four frames against the
Chicago southpaw, fresh off another outstanding seven-inning performance
Tuesday in Baltimore in which he permitted one run, and didn't put multiple
men on base until Jose Reyes doubled in the sixth and Edwin Encarnacion drew a
two-out walk.
Quintana got the dangerous Jose Bautista to harmlessly hit into a force play,
however, to end the Blue Jays' best scoring chance of the day.
"I tried to keep the ball down with him," said Quintana of Bautista's at-bat.
"I was behind the count 2-0. I wanted to keep the ball away. I think I threw a
good pitch after I was behind in the count, and I came up with the ground ball
for the out."
Game Notes
Abreu's single extended his hitting streak to 14 games ... Sierra and Alexei
Ramirez both finished 2-for-4 for Chicago ... Bautista did not start for a
seventh straight game as he deals with a strained hamstring, but was used as a
pinch hitter in the seventh ... Buehrle is in the midst of his longest losing
streak since a four-game slide with Miami from June 1-19, 2012 .... Quintana
improved to 4-1 in five lifetime starts against the Blue Jays.