LEFTY QUINTANA ON (PIZZA) ROLL
CINCINNATI — ‘‘Pizza Hut.’’ ‘‘Pizza? What?’’ Whoever it was calling from the visitors’ bullpen before the CubsReds game last weekend seemed confused for only a second or two before playing along with the wise-guy baseball writer who had answered the bullpen phone when it rang in the Cubs’ dugout.
‘‘This is Pizza Hut. Can I take your order?’’ said the writer, who assumed he was talking to a stadium worker testing the phones. ‘‘You want sausage or pepperoni?’’ ‘‘Pepperoni.’’
‘‘Large or medium? Deep-dish or regular crust?’’
‘‘Large. Regular crust.’’
‘‘We’ll get that right to you. Thank you very much.’’
‘‘OK. Thanks.’’
A few minutes later, Cubs left-hander Jose Quintana jogged in from the bullpen and headed through the dugout
on his way to the clubhouse.
‘‘Was that one of you guys on the phone?’’ he said, looking at a cabal of writers.
Quintana? No way. The most serious starting pitcher on the Cubs’ staff this side of Jon Lester? The last one anyone would expect to joke in the middle of a workday, especially as he fought through his longest drought with the Cubs?
But then a funny thing happened on the way to another rough start for Quintana. The day after the pizza gag, he pitched six scoreless innings to beat the Reds for his first victory in 10 starts. It ended a particularly ugly sixstart stretch (6.75 ERA).
Somebody arranged for the clubhouse manager to deliver a pepperoni pizza to Quintana as he talked with reporters after the game, and he stopped in midsentence to accept the pie, laughing.
‘‘Bullpen pizza!’’ he said. Quintana did it again five days later, pitching seven innings Thursday in Pittsburgh and retiring the final 11 Pirates he faced for another victory. He has the Cubs’ only two victories in the first seven games of their road trip. It couldn’t be the pizza, could it? Quintana said he’s putting the onus on himself to help pick up the load in the absence of left-hander Cole Hamels (oblique injury) and to help the Cubs shake their five-week malaise.
Then he also said this when he was done with postgame interviews Thursday and a writer told him he would see him back in Chicago: ‘‘Don’t forget the pizza.’’