Jose Quintana masterful in Chicago Cubs debut
BALTIMORE – Jose Quintana is well aware of the lofty expectations that came with his trade to the Chicago Cubs.
He certainly dazzled his new teammates in his debut.
Quintana struck out a season-high 12 in seven sharp innings and the Cubs beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-0 Sunday for a three-game sweep.
“It was my first outing with the Cubs, but after the first inning, I felt really good,” Quintana said. “I threw everything in the first inning and just focused on making quick outs.”
Acquired by the defending World Series champions during the All-Star break from the Chicago White Sox for a playoff push, Quintana gave the Cubs exactly the kind of boost they hoped to get.
“It could really be a big boon to us, there’s no question,” Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. “Everybody else saw it.”
The lefty ace allowed three hits, walked none and joined Matt Garza as the only pitchers in Cubs history to fan 12 in their debut.
Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo homered to help the Cubs move over .500 for the first time since June 29. The Cubs hit 10 home runs during the sweep at Camden Yards.
Chicago took advantage of another wild start by Ubaldo Jimenez (4-5) and opened a 4-0 lead in the second. Willson Contreras added a career-high four hits.
The Cubs traded their top two prospects, outfielder Eloy Jimenez and right-hander Dylan Cease, along with infielders Matt Rose and Bryant Flete, to get Quintana. He was 4-8 with a 4.49 ERA for the White Sox.
Chicago is now 4 1/2 game behind Milwaukee in the N.L. Central and 5 1/2 games back in the wild-card race.
“We’re playing a world champion team that everyone knew was going to get going at some point,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “Unfortunately, they started here. They’re on the top of their game. They have a lot of good pieces. We were not up to the challenge.”
Quintana retired nine straight batters until Adam Jones led off the fourth with a double. This was the 10th time in his career, and third this season, he fanned at least 10.
“All the other starters saw it. They saw that we grabbed a lead and there was no messing around. There was no walks. There was no bad counts.”
Nationals bolster bullpen
Looking to fortify a bullpen that has blown more than a third of its save chances, the Washington Nationals acquired relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle from the Oakland Athletics for right-hander Blake Treinen and a pair of prospects.
Left-hander Jesus Luzardo and infielder Sheldon Neuse were sent to Oakland as part of Sunday’s deal.
A 36-year-old right-hander, Madson has a 2.06 ERA and is seventh among relievers in hits plus walks per inning at 0.79. He has not allowed any of the seven inherited runners to score in his past 13 appearances.
Doolittle is a 30-year-old left-hander who has held left-handed batters hitless in 23 at-bats this year with 12 strikeouts and no walks. He is 1-0 with three saves, a 3.38 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings.
N.L. East-leading Washington has a strong rotation led by Max Scherzer (11-5), Stephen Strasburg (9-3) and Gio Gonzalez (8-4) but the bullpen has converted just 22 of 36 save chances.