Indians take second straight blowout loss to White Sox

Associated Press

Chicago

The decisive inning took so long that Jose Quintana got stiff watching from the dugout and retreated to the batting cages to play catch.

When he returned, he had all the support he needed to hand the division-leading Cleveland Indians a second ugly loss in two days.

Todd Frazier and Carlos Sanchez each drove in two runs in a seven-run sixth inning, and the Chicago White Sox routed the Indians 8-1 on Tuesday night.

“I was trying to stay loose,” Quintana said of the 10 to 12 extra throws. “They scored a lot of runs, so then I just wanted to throw strikes.”

The White Sox had seven hits, drew two walks and sent 12 batters to the plate against three pitchers in their highest-scoring inning of the season. The Indians, who have allowed 19 runs in two games, maintained a six-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central after the Tigers lost to Minnesota 8-1.

“We’re going to lose games,” Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “The way we’re losing games is not right.”

Quintana (12-10) held Cleveland to five hits over eight innings, including Brandon Guyer’s solo homer in the second in Chicago’s fifth win in seven games.

Quintana lowered his ERA 3.05, but has 10 losses thanks to often getting few runs to work with. That changed in the sixth.

“Q doesn’t get the press he should get in my opinion,” center fielder Adam Eaton said. “He does a heck of a job with the quality start rate he has, it’s tremendous. And it falls on the hitters’ shoulders to score some runs for him.”

Tied at 1, Trevor Bauer (11-7) walked Eaton to lead off the sixth. Four hits followed, with Jose Abreu driving in the first run and Frazier getting his career-high 92nd RBI to chase Bauer.

“I feel like I didn’t deserve to have that happen,” Bauer said. “That’s as good as I been in months. Baseball is a (messed-up) game.”

Avisail Garcia then delivered an RBI single, Sanchez tripled and Eaton doubled in a run in his second time up to end Dan Otero’s night. Joe Colon came in and gave up a walk before Melky Cabrera grounded out to end a half-inning that took more than 30 minutes.

Abreu’s two-out bloop single in the first made it 1-0 and extended Chicago’s scoring streak to nine consecutive innings after an 11-4 rout Monday.

Bauer then retired 12 straight before hitting Sanchez with a pitch in the fifth. He was charged with six runs and struck out seven.

Quintana struck out six and walked one.

“If we can swing the bats like that with him, you feel really good about your opportunity,” manager Robin Ventura said. “Q is as steady as can be.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: Yan Gomes (shoulder) caught nine innings and went 2 for 4 in a playoff game for Double-A Akron. Gomes is expected to come off the disabled list Friday. “He won’t be ready to catch every day, but having him back will be really nice,” manager Terry Francona said. . Guyer left with a sore knee, but Francona expected him to play Wednesday.

White Sox: DH Justin Morneau (stiff neck) was out of the lineup and 1B Abreu moved to DH after getting hit in the nose and tweaking his ankle in separate plays Monday. Morneau could return Wednesday.