After four long months of rehab, left-hander Jose Quintana finally made his Mets debut on Thursday afternoon against the Chicago White Sox.
The veteran landed on the injured list late in spring training after dealing with a stress fracture in his left rib, which required surgery. He made five minor league appearances before finally getting back to a big league mound.
In his first game back since last September, Quintana was handed the loss but he tossed five efficient innings.
“All in all, it feels great,” the southpaw told reporters postgame. “A lot of emotions for my debut, so excited to make it here at home. It felt great, every inning I felt better and better and in command. I worked a bit with the clock but it went well.”
Quintana got off to a bit of a shaky start as he allowed three straight singles in the top of the first to put Chicago ahead early. After that 21-pitch inning, though, he was able to settle in nicely.
The White Sox added another run in the second on a double and Elvis Andrus sacrifice fly, but they didn’t muster much else after that.
Quintana used a strikeout and double play to help him work around a leadoff single in the top of the third. He then went on a groove and ended up retiring eight of the final nine hitters he faced.
Overall, Quintana allowed two runs on six hits while striking out three over five innings of work. He didn’t issue a walk while throwing threw 77 pitches (53 strikes) and limited the White Sox to a ton of soft contact.
Mets manager Buck Showalter was very encouraged by his strong first outing.
“I would’ve taken that outing any day,” the skipper said. “Two flares in the first inning but I was talking to him in the dugout and he felt better and better as the day went on.
“This guy hadn’t pitched in a big-league game since last September. This was a big day for him and he handled himself well. He showed all the things he’s good at, command of the fastball and attacking hitters, he’s gonna help us. Good first start for him all things considered.”
That’s the Quintana the Mets expected to get when they signed him to a two-year deal earlier this offseason. The veteran posted a career-low 2.93 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 137 strikeouts over 32 outings last season with the Pirates and Cardinals.
He should be able to eat innings and provide some stability to the backend of this rotation moving forward.
Although, according to SNY’s MLB Insider Andy Martino, Quintana is one of the veteran Mets generating interest ahead of the trade deadline. That should only increase after his strong debut Thursday afternoon.
While Quintana may generate an interesting return, it may be in the Mets’ best interest to keep him for next season. With the lack of MLB ready starters in the system, this team needs as many reliable arms as they can get moving forward.
Quintana certainly showed that he can be one of them on Thursday afternoon.