The growing segment of Mets fans who wanted a change in the starting rotation are going to have to wait.
Jose Quintana isn’t going anywhere after this outing.
The veteran left-hander, who had failed to record an out in the fifth inning in each of his previous two starts, picked a good time to deliver one of his best performances of the season, particularly with young pitchers Jose Butto and Christian Scott performing well in Triple-A.
Quintana allowed just a Jackson solo homer across six sterling innings, leading the Mets to their fourth straight win, 5-1, over the Padres at Citi Field on Saturday afternoon.
“I needed this kind of outing,” he said.
A free agent to be, the 35-year-old Quintana allowed just two hits, walked two and struck out six in his best start in quite some time.
The southpaw pitched to a 7.20 ERA in May and was shaky in his two June starts, giving up six earned runs to the Phillies and Diamondbacks over 7 ²/₃ innings. He entered with a 5.29 ERA and 1.43 WHIP.
He was significantly better against the Padres.
Quintana made a concerted effort to work inside to keep them off the plate to set up his off-speed stuff, and it worked.
The six strikeouts were a season-high, and the two hits were a season-low. He recorded eight swings and misses, up from two in his previous outing.
The return of catcher Francisco Alvarez, who returned on this homestand after missing six weeks with a torn ligament in his left thumb, made a difference for him.
“Amazing. I really missed him a lot,” Quintana said. “Great energy, he always brings good ideas. He’s really special, I really like [pitching to] him. … He’s always on top of the game.”
San Diego didn’t have more than one hitter reach base in any of Quintana’s six innings.
His one big mistake came in the fifth, an inner-half sinker that Merrill launched 411 feet for his seventh homer.
The Mets had Dedniel Nunez warming up in the sixth when Fernando Tatis Jr. walked with one out. But Quintana got Jurickson Profar to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to complete his day.
“When I finished with the double play, it made me feel great,.” Quintana said. “My pitches were really good. As soon as I saw the ground ball, I said, ‘we got it’ It’s a good win. It’s fun when you do things like that. Baseball feels fun.”
