Jose Quintana: Three outings of 8-inning shutout ball — all for no decisions. He can’t believe it, either.
Dropping their first series in four weeks, the Sox lineup-wide sag in production extended itself courtesy of a sharp outing by Clay Buchholz (8IP, 6H 1R, 1BB 6K).
But the truly twisted tale of the mound was yet another excellent wasted outing by Jose Quintana. Riding his slider and some nice corner touches, The New Q went for 8 shutout innings, retiring 19 of 20 before yielding to Matt Thornton (L, 2-6) whose offerings by comparison were up, fat and good for 2 ER when it was all over.
Worse, the profoundly wasteful pattern for Quintana is historic – just how historic was illustrated by Daryl Van Schouwen:
Quintana first pitcher since 1900 to throw three 8-inning scoreless outings with no-decision according to Elias
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) July 20, 2012
<statistical illiteracy>So it can never, ever, happen again, right?</statistical illiteracy>
The Sox AL Central lead is down to just 1 ½ games up on the Tigers as the team heads to Motor City for the weekend series starting tomorrow with Peavy vs. Verlander.
To flow the tears of the Juggalos, one run isn’t going to cut it.
