Jose Quintana Continues Struggling With Command

Jose Quintana took the mound for the Mets on Monday, looking to get the Mets back in the win column after exiting Los Angeles with a loss.

Unfortunately, things went south for the lefty quick, and the Mets couldn’t climb out the early hole.

Quintana’s rough outing began in the second inning. The Giants loaded the bases behind singles from Jorge Soler and Michael Conforto, and a walk to Thairo Estrada.

After Tom Murphy struck out, Nick Ahmed delivered a two-out single up the middle to drive in Soler and Conforto, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead.

The early lead for the Giants didn’t seem insurmountable at the time. The Mets had played the comeback card early all season long and it was only the second inning. Quintana, however, continued to struggle.

The very next inning, the Giants tagged the southpaw for two more runs. A Wilmer Flores walk and Jung Hoo Lee single put runners on base with no outs, and set up Matt Chapman, who doubled home both to extend the lead to 4-0.

The 4-0 hole the Mets into was too much for the offense to overcome. Pete Alonso hit a solo homer in the top of the fifth to cut the deficit to 4-1, but Quintana allowed a solo shot to Conforto in the sixth to bring the score to 5-1.

Overall, Quintana allowed five earned runs on seven hits in his start on Monday. He also struck out four in the five innings pitched.

The lefty was dancing around the zone the entire night and had trouble putting away batters, which was something he brought up to the media after the game.

“Yeah, that’s what I feel,” Quintana said on his lack of command.  “And I made a couple adjustments later in the game …  but I think I can be better (at) throwing more strikes early (rather) than be around and get traffic on base.”

His current 12.1% walk rate is the worst of his career, and he’s striking out fewer people than he ever has before. It’s not a great mix.

However, despite the rough outing and lack of command, his batted ball statistics on the night leave a little hope. Five of the seven hits recorded by the Giants had exit velocities under 86 miles per hour, with three of them below 80.

But Quintana will have to hone in the walks if he’s going to find any sustained success this year. His expected numbers have so far been much worse than the actual results, and tonight was representative of his true performance catching up to him.

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