José Quintana is back in the kind of matchup that feels a little strange on paper and even stranger in real life: the left-hander will face the White Sox for just the third time in his career, nine seasons and eight teams after last pitching for Chicago.
Quintana has been effective enough against his old club. In four appearances, three of them starts, he is 1-2 with a 4.24 ERA, and all three starts lasted five innings. The last time the two sides met, he was with the Mets and earned his lone win over the White Sox by navigating around six hits and three walks.
This year has been a shortened one for Quintana, who has logged only 45 innings for Colorado because a left elbow sprain kept him out for four months. He returned to the mound a week ago against Seattle and is getting another chance tonight.
He has said he is open to pitching next season, so this may not be the end of the line. Still, if this does turn out to be his last MLB start, it would be a full-circle moment.
And if the White Sox beat him, there’s no need for anyone to apologize; his career record would still sit above .500 at 115-114.
The White Sox made a roster move before the game, bringing Drew Romo back onto the 28-man roster in place of Jake Rogers, who is on the paternity leave list. Romo had been around the White Sox dugout even while off the roster, and now the taxi squad call has finally turned into an active spot.
Chicago is also without Chase Meidroth for a second straight game because of a sore left hamstring. Before the game, Will Venable said the decision was close, but the club ultimately chose to hold him out.
“Tough decision and really one where obviously we want Chase in there, and I think that if this was early in the summer, there would be absolutely no chance that we’d allow him to play. But we considered it because of how important this game is.
Just as you’re evaluating the risk and reward of that, with the idea of the potential to further injure himself and eliminate him from the possibility of the playoffs, it was just too big of a risk. We just want to take it out of his hands and shut him down for today.
May see him in a pinch hit, in which he doesn’t have to go out there and run around and play defense later in the game. I know he wants to play and wasn’t very happy with me in taking it away from him because he wants to be out there, but really feel strongly this is the best thing for him and for us as we go forward here.”
First pitch is set for White Sox-Rockies on CHSN, with Davis Martin opposing Quintana.
The White Sox lineup: Miguel Vargas at third, Tommy Pham at DH, Randal Grichuk in left, Munetaka Murakami at first, Brenton Doyle in center, Kyle Teel catching, Sam Antonacci at second, Luisangel Acuña at short, and Tristan Peters in right.
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