Chicago Cubs: Jose Quintana will always be team’s most-criticized arm

After another sub-par outing, the fiery rhetoric surrounding Chicago Cubs left-hander Jose Quintana flared back up – and it’s unlikely to ever change.

Since Jose Quintana joined the Chicago Cubs, facing the Milwaukee Brewers has netted overwhelmingly positive results. That being said, Tuesday’s outing was anything but positive as Quintana failed to control the Brew Crew, who drew within a mere two games of first.

The southpaw served up a trio of home runs in the loss, one off the bat of Lorenzo Cain and a pair courtesy of Ryan Braun. When the book closed on Quintana, he lasted just five innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits and one walk.

“I feel bad about this game,” Quintana said. “This was a big game coming in. I’m upset I wasn’t able to execute today.”

Bad? Yeah, that’s a good way to feel after Chicago utterly failed to carry any semblance of the momentum they carried into the series opener. Rookie David Bote gave the team their ‘moment’ they could rally around. Instead, the Cubs offense failed to score a run in support of Quintana. The loss marked the club’s third-straight shutout loss at the hands of the Brewers.

But back to Quintana.

Chicago Cubs: An up-and-down performance so far

This wasn’t a good effort – plain and simple. On the year, the lefty carries a 4.46 ERA – over three-quarters of a run higher than his career average. He’s pitched particularly poorly at Wrigley Field, evidenced by a 5.00 ERA in 10 starts.

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This is a guy who is more than serviceable as a third starter in the postseason – when he’s pitching like he has in most of his career. I’m not saying he’s doing that this season, because he’s not. But he’s absolutely capable of it.

Heading into the All-Star Break, I was fine with what we’d gotten from the former White Sox hurler. A 3.96 ERA, .242 opponent average and, most importantly, he took the ball 18 times. But since the Midsummer Classic, things have been a mess – and that’s putting it mildly.

In five second half start, he’s totaled just 25 2/3 innings, allowing 28 hits – six of which have left the yard.

Granted, those numbers certainly weren’t helped by Tuesday’s showing, but the fact remains the same – the Cubs need more from their prized midseason acquisition from a year ago.

And therein lies the problem.