Offense clicking on all cylinders vs. Indians

September 14th, 2016

CHICAGO -- Take the steady pitching of All-Star , mix in a seven-run, seven-hit outburst from the White Sox offense in the sixth inning Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field, and what do you have?
For starters, a second straight dominant performance by Robin Ventura's crew over the American League Central leaders from Cleveland in an 8-1 victory. On the flip side, there's a second straight night of questions as to where this explosive offense has been for much of the 2016 season.
"Well, that part you probably look at some other time," said Ventura after his team improved to 5-3 on this current homestand and rose to 11-5 over the last 16 contests at U.S. Cellular. "Right now, they are just playing hard. Every guy is continuing to grind it out. Many guys across the board are contributing.
"Any time you do that, you play better. If we have offense like this, you want to keep it going and not think too much about it."
The White Sox scored in each of the eight innings they had at-bats during Monday's 11-4 victory, and actually added another one in the first inning off on Tuesday. It was pretty much feast or famine the rest of the way, with Bauer retiring 13 of 14 moving into the sixth.
With five singles, one double and one two-run Carlos Sanchez triple, the White Sox certainly didn't go hungry when their big opportunity arrived.
"We have to take advantage of it, and we did it today," said Sanchez through interpreter Billy Russo. "We just tried to keep the rhythm of the hitter in front of us. We also tried to keep hitting the ball and putting the ball in play and keep producing. We gave good support today for Q. That was important, too. Sometimes, it's been hard to produce when he's pitching, and we did it today."
"Bauer was throwing really well, and you've just got to battle against a guy like that when he's got good stuff going," said White Sox second baseman of the team's outburst. "We were just able to capitalize on a bunch of stuff left over the plate or getting on the right pitches and squaring them up, and that's the way it went right there."
That bottom of the sixth went so long for the White Sox that Quintana had to go back into the batting cage and play catch with pregame instructor Luis Sierra. He threw 10 fastballs to stay loose.

Quintana's 3.82 run-support average ranks third-lowest in the AL. So he certainly wasn't about to argue concerning the slight delay.
"I can play catch every time. If I get a lot of support, that's good," said a satisfied Quintana. "I know with a lot of runs, just try to throw strikes, throw the fastball.
"At the beginning of the season, I said one day [the lack of support] will change. Now it's the best support for me ever, and that's good. Every time I try to do my job and don't pay attention. It's better when you get support."