Chicago White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana is hoping that Thursday’s spring training start against the Los Angeles Angels turns out to be one of his worst of the year. The righthander gave up seven runs in just three innings of work, but he may not have been feeling 100 percent.
For starters, Quintana was making his first appearance since he was drilled in the shin with a line drive two batters into his outing last Saturday. And then there was also the Glendale, Ariz. traffic, which caused him to arrive at the ballpark just 25 minutes before the game began.
“He got stuck in traffic,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said, via CSNChicago.com’s Dan Hayes. “I don’t know if that was necessarily it, but I think getting in, the shin, getting back out there hopefully had something to do with it. He was up and in the zone. I think he just felt rushed. Everything was up, and they had some pretty good swings in there.”
Quintana allowed six hits and walked three batters. He was seen sprinting across the field from the right-field entrance sometime after 12:30 p.m., racing to get loose for his 1:00 p.m. start. He said after the game that his shin was not an issue. Fortunately, it was only March 13.
Quintana has had some bad luck this month, but it could be worse. Some of his fellow MLB starting pitchers are battling some bizarre injuries this month. He should count his blessings.
H/T Hardball Talk
