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Levine: Shaky Jose Quintana Gets Big Support From Offense In Cubs' Win

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Now a month into his Cubs career, left-hander Jose Quintana has been steadily adjusting to his new home.

On Monday, he didn't have his best stuff, but he was good enough with the help of an explosive offense in the Cubs' 15-5 win against the Reds at Wrigley Field. Quintana went five innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits and an an uncharacteristic four walks while striking out four.

"I felt fine with my delivery," Quintana said. "My fastball command was off early. I made some adjustments after that. I eventually had good command on both sides of the plate."

Quintana has struggled of late, giving up a combined nine earned runs in 11 innings in his past two starts entering Monday. He allowed both his runs in the second inning, hurt by two walkd, a hit by pitch and his own error in the frame.

But Quintana was helped by a five-run outburst by the Cubs in the fourth inning that broke a 2-2 tie. That included back-to-back homers from Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. Bryant is one of the hottest hitters in the game, as he's 11-of-15 with two homers, six RBIs and four walks in the past four games.

"What was really impressive for me was the offense tonight," Quintana said.

Lead-off man Jon Jay went 3-for-5 with three runs as the Cubs had a 17-hit attack. Jay was a homer shy of the cycle as the Cubs lengthened their NL Central lead to 1.5 games over the idle Cardinals.

"He has done a great job for us," manager Joe Maddon said of Jay. "He has had great at-bats and not just singles.

"He also does a lot of little things like mentoring the younger guys. He has definitely stirred our drink."

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.

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