Jose Quintana will pitch Sunday’s home game finale for the White Sox against Tampa, with the pitchers for final three games of the regular season still to be decided.
Quintana will face Rays ace David Price as the Sox try to climb back in the American League Central against the Detroit Tigers against a Rays team trying to secure the league’s second wild card.
“We never expected him in spring training to be in the rotation at all,” manager Robin Ventura said of Quintana, 23, who has found himself pitching in some of the team’s biggest games.
His last start was Sept. 22 against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim when he worked five innings, giving up four runs on six hits in taking the 4-2 loss. But he also was the starter Sept. 17 in the make-up game against the Tigers, going four innings and giving up four runs in the game the Sox came back to win 5-4.
That victory gave them a three-game division lead, which disappeared in a week, the Sox trailing the Tigers by two games entering play Friday.
“Q has been in some big spots,” Ventura said. The team’s pitching options were Quintana or Hector Santiago in lieu of lefty Francisco Liriano, who is being skipped after pitching poorly in his last start against the Cleveland Indians.
