Jose Quintana is still seeking his first win in more than a month, however there are signs he could be back on the right track.
The left-hander rebounded from two poor outings by pitching into the sixth inning of Chicago's 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night, helping the White Sox stop a five-game losing streak.
"I think the confidence that he showed today in high-leverage situations throughout the ballgame was kind of vintage Q," manager Rick Renteria said. "It's a good game for him to build on and keep moving forward."
Avisail Garcia, Yolmer Sanchez and Todd Frazier homered for the White Sox.
Chris Beck (1-0) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning to get the victory in relief of Quintana, who avoided becoming the first pitcher in the major leagues to lose eight games this season.
"You have another chance to do the job, and tonight I showed what I can do," Quintana said.
"It's a new game, so I just focused on attacking the (strike) zone. I never changed my approach, but I threw more to the corners ... and I kept the ball down better," Quintana added. "You get results when you keep the ball down."
Garcia led off the seventh with a solo homer, snapping a 1-1 tie against Chris Archer (4-4), who also gave up a lead-off homer to Sanchez on the fourth pitch of the game.
Jose Abreu added an RBI single in the eighth before Frazier led off the ninth with a homer off Ryan Garton.
Evan Longoria drove in a run for Tampa Bay with a first-inning single off Quintana, who allowed one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. Jesus Sucre had an eighth-inning sacrifice fly for the Rays, who have lost four straight.
David Robertson pitched the ninth for the White Sox, earning his ninth save in 10 opportunities.
Quintana entered the night having gone 0-2 with a 19.29 ERA over his previous two starts and was tied with Boston's Rick Porcello, Cleveland's Josh Tomlin, San Francisco's Jeff Samardzija, Miami's Edinson Volquez, Colorado's Tyler Chatwood and Atlanta's Bartolo Colon for the major league lead in losses with seven.
The Chicago starter struck out Logan Morrison with the bases loaded to get through the fifth inning. Beck came to the rescue in the sixth, getting Sucre to ground into an inning-ending double play after an intentional walk loaded the bases again with one out.
Archer allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings. He fanned 11, tying David Price's club record for career double-digit strikeout games with 23.
"He did his job," Morrison said after the Rays went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. "We let him down."
WAS IT OR WASN'T IT?
Umpires ruled Sanchez's fly ball to center to start the game a home run, believing it glanced off one of the catwalks supporting the roof at Tropicana Field. The call stood after a crew chief review, however the Rays insisted the ball did not hit anything and should have been ruled a triple. Archer called it "probably the shortest home run in major league history."
"For us to have a rule to have replay and to not get the call right and put the team behind the 8 ball is a bit ridiculous for me, in my opinion," Archer said. "I'm not a firm believer in Statcast, but it said the apex of the ball was 63 feet off the ground. We don't have anything in Tropicana Field that's 63 feet off the ground, so there's just a lot wrong with it."
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: LHP Carlos Rodon (left biceps bursitis) allowed five runs, four hits, two walks and struck out six over 3 1/3 innings in his first rehab start at Class-A Winston-Salem.
Rays: C Wilson Ramos (right knee surgery) and reliever Brad Boxberger (right flexor strain) have started rehab assignments with Class-A Charlotte.
MOVING DAY
The White Sox signed RHP Bobby Parnell to a minor league contract.
UP NEXT
White Sox: RHP Mike Pelfrey (2-4), Wednesday night's starter against Tampa Bay, is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA over his last three games.
Rays: RHP Jacob Faria will be recalled from Triple-A Durham to make his major league debut against Pelfrey in the middle game of the series. The move allows Tampa Bay to give its rotation an extra day off.
