The Mets were looking to win their four-game series against the Washington Nationals as Jose Quintana took the mound on Thursday in the nation’s capital.
Entering the game, Quintana had been showing signs of improvement over his last three starts with Francisco Alvarez behind the plate. In 16 1/3 innings pitched across those outings, he allowed only three earned runs with 21 strikeouts and a 3.46 FIP.
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While this game was important for the standings, it carried extra significance for Quintana. It marked his first start on the Fourth of July as an American citizen, a designation that he acquired earlier this year during spring training. He emphasized how much this milestone meant to him on a personal level.
“It means a lot for me and my family,” Quintana said after the game.
Despite all of the pressure he faced, Quintana came through for the Mets with yet another stellar pitching performance despite the team’s eventual 1-0 loss.
After dominating the Nationals lineup through the first four innings, Quintana ran into some trouble in the fifth. With runners on first and second after he allowed a single and a walk, the red-hot CJ Abrams came to the plate.
Quintana got the best of the young shortstop, however, with a key strikeout that halted the potential rally. The at-bat lasted for five pitches, with four of Quintana’s pitches registering as slurves.
Quintana used that offering 12 times out of his 95 pitches on the day, and it generated three called strikes and two whiffs. His CSW% of 42 percent with it was the highest figure among all of his pitches on the day.
While his slurve and curveball both hovered around 78 miles-per-hour in Thursday’s start, the slurve came with more horizontal break than the curveball. Quintana spoke about his philosophy behind favoring the slurve against Abrams with runners on base.
“I wanted a ground ball to try and get a double play,” Quintana said. “It was really good to get the strikeout.”
Although this was his only strikeout of the day, it came at a very opportune time. Abrams, who is in the 79th percentile for sprint speed this season, would have likely beat out a potential double play if he had hit the ball on the ground.
The rest of the outing was smooth-sailing for Quintana, who finished the day with seven shutout innings while allowing just four hits and three walks.
Quintana’s recent improvement leaves the Mets at a crossroads regarding his future with the club. With a surplus of starting pitching talent at their disposal, the club has struggled to provide their young arms with consistent work at the major league level.
While Quintana seems to be revered in the clubhouse, it may be the time for David Stearns to sell high on his recent body of work. Sending the left-handed pitcher to a contender would allow the Mets to take back assets on an expiring contract and get an extended look at pitchers like Jose Buttó and Christian Scott in more significant roles.
Regardless of what plan the organization decides to carry out, it is great to see Quintana looking more like the pitcher he was in 2023. Whether it is with the Mets or another contending team, he will certainly make an impact down the stretch as a stable and reliable arm in a rotation.
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