Jose Quintana finished last season with a 0.81 ERA in his final six starts, helping pitch the Cardinals into the playoffs.
After waiting more than three months to get Quintana on the mound this season, the Mets haven’t seen that version of the left-hander yet, but given the state of most of the rest of their rotation, he’s been a welcome addition.
He allowed just two earned runs over six innings in a 3-1 loss to the Yankees in The Bronx on Wednesday, saving his most effective pitches for the toughest spots of his outing, as he kept the Yankees hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position in the first two innings.
“He bent but didn’t break,’’ Buck Showalter said. “He competes. It’s pretty obvious the guy knows how to pitch. He understands pitching and kept us in the ballgame. A lot of guys wouldn’t have gotten that deep.”
Quintana said he’s “so close” to being where he wants to be on the mound, but even with a second solid outing Wednesday, Quintana’s future in Queens is unclear, with the Mets figuring to lean toward selling by Tuesday’s trade deadline, and the 34-year-old is one of the few potential players of value who could be moved.
He signed a two-year, $26 million deal with the Mets in the offseason, but a fractured rib discovered during spring training pushed Quintana’s Mets’ debut back until July.
By then, the Mets’ season was in disarray, and despite a pair of relatively strong outings, the Mets lost both of his first two starts, providing a total of just three runs in his games.
Quintana again started slowly Wednesday.
He allowed both of his runs in his first start in the first two innings, and Wednesday, the Yankees got to Quintana for a pair of runs in the bottom of the second.
Quintana loaded the bases with no one out in the second before limiting the damage, as the Yankees only scored on an Oswald Peraza fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
In the fourth, Quintana was hurt by a Mark Vientos throwing error on Harrison Bader’s leadoff infield hit. The play led to an unearned run.
Jeff McNeil made a nice shoestring catch in right on Kiner-Falefa’s sinking liner to end the inning, and McNeil saved Quintana another run to start the bottom of the fifth, robbing Gleyber Torres of a homer with a leaping grab at the fence in right
Read more
