White Sox 4, Brewers 2
MILWAUKEE -- First-inning home runs from Avisail Garcia and Adam LaRoche gave left-hander Jose Quintana all the run support he’d need and the Chicago White Sox won their first road series of the season, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 Wednesday night at Miller Park.
Quintana (2-3) came into the game with a 2.37 ERA over his last three starts but hadn’t won a game since April 14 thanks to an offense that produced just 1.42 runs per game.
So when he got three before he even took the mound Wednesday, he was able to roll and struck out a season-high 10 while catering four hits and a walk over seven innings.
The dominance would come in handy as Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson (1-4) recovered from his shaky first inning and managed to get into the seventh despite giving up eight hits while walking two with just three strikeouts.
Milwaukee finally broke the shutout in the seventh, when pinch-hitter Gerardo Parra drove in third baseman Hector Gomez.
Right-hander David Robertson gave up a solo home run to center fielder Carlos Gomez and walked first baseman Adam Lind to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth but retired the last two Brewers batters for his seventh save of the season.
A leadoff walk to center fielder Adam Eaton turned into a 1-0 lead when he advanced on a wild pitch, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sac fly by left fielder Melky Cabrera.
Garcia sent Nelson's next offering to center to put the White Sox up 2-0 and LaRoche followed by crushing a 3-1 sinker to center for his fourth home run of the year.
Milwaukee managed just one hit and two base runners through the first five innings against Quintana.
NOTES: Milwaukee SS Jean Segura was a late scratch because of a sore right pinky finger. ... Brewers 3B Aramis Ramirez missed his sixth straight game because of tightness in his lower back. With an off-day scheduled for Thursday, manager Craig Counsell is hoping to have Ramirez back in the lineup Friday when the team opens a weekend series against the Mets at Citi Field. ... Chicago came into the game looking for its first victory in a road series this season. The White Sox had dropped 12 of their 15 games away from U.S. Cellular field in 2015. ... Milwaukee was looking to win its second consecutive series for the first time this season. The Brewers lost their first seven series of 2015 but were 2-0-1 in their last three. ... The White Sox have eight home runs in their last seven games after going without a homer in the previous nine. Chicago is last in the American League and 20th in baseball this season with 20 home runs.