Jose Quintana turned in perhaps his best performance of the season on Saturday in the Mets’ 5-1 win over the Padres, tossing six innings of two-hit ball, allowing just one earned run while striking out six for his first win since April 11.
Coincidentally, that was the last time Francisco Alvarez was behind the plate for one of Quintana’s starts, and the veteran left-hander made sure to give the 23-year-old plenty of credit for the game he called.
“Alvy did an amazing job behind the plate,” Quintana said “I don’t have to check him too much, so I’m more focused on executing. When you have a couple of starts struggling you focus on the small things…that was my key today, just thinking and one pitch at a time and keep executing.”
Alvarez has been sidelined with a thumb injury since April 19 and finally returned earlier this week.
He has not quite found his footing yet offensively – just two hits in 14 plate appearances – but it is clear that his impact is being felt with pitchers like Quintana.
“When I see him he has that instinct behind the plate,” Quintana said. “As a pitcher, we have opportunity to read swings, think about what’s next. Because he’s close to the hitter, he has great ideas on what to throw next. Always on top of the game. You never see that often in the game. It’s pretty special.”
For Quintana, Saturday’s start could potentially be a turning point for him after failing to make it past the fourth inning in his last two starts.
“I needed this outing,” Quintana said. “When I finished that double play, it made me feel great. All of my pitches felt good. As long as we got the ground ball, I said we got it. When you do things like that, baseball feels fun.”
Read the full article here