April 18--A costly error made the difference for White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana in Sunday's 3-2 loss to the Rays.
After the Rays pulled ahead 2-1 in the third inning on Brandon Guyer's RBI single, Quintana nearly escaped the inning without any more damage.
But on Logan Morrison's ground ball to first base with two on and two outs, Quintana caught the toss from first baseman Jose Abreu but missed the bag with his foot. Morrison was safe, Quintana was charged with an error and the winning run scored for the Rays.
"Jose did a good job," Quintana said. "I caught the ball. He threw it to me in a good spot. But I never saw the base, and that was the point. I just missed the base."
Quintana settled down to pitch three more scoreless innings, but a high pitch count knocked him out after six innings. He gave up seven hits, walked none and struck out six.
"He's always going to battle," manager Robin Ventura said. "He was up there in the pitch count, but he gave us what we needed. We just couldn't get anything going against (Matt) Moore."
Cabrera's day off: Melky Cabrera, who was hitting .440 during a six-game hitting streak entering Sunday, didn't start because Ventura wanted to give him a rest from the Tropicana Field turf and wanted Jerry Sands to face Moore, a lefty.
Sands, the designated hitter, went 0-for-3. Cabrera, who was 5-for-10 against Moore previously in his career, walked in a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth.
The Sox are in the midst of 19 games in a row with no days off, and Ventura said he needs to give players a breather when he can.
"I'm trying to get some guys a day here and there, but without the days off, it's a little tougher to do that," Ventura said.
Going home: The Sox have played just two games at home this year, and Ventura said they will be happy to return from their six-game trip, especially the players who are new to Chicago.
"It didn't really feel like we were home at all," Ventura said. "Everybody is looking to get home and have a stretch there. ... The new guys haven't been able to establish anything. They washed their clothes, and put them back in a suitcase. That's all there was time to do."
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