The Red Sox provided little of that.
Jose Quintana took a nohitter into the seventh before David Ortiz broke it up with one out on a broken-bat single, and the Chicago White Sox beat Boston 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Jeff Keppinger hit a tworun homer off Doubront (3-2) in the fifth. Alex Rios extended his career-best hitting streak to 16 with a single and RBI double, and the White Sox won for the sixth time in eight games. The Red Sox, meanwhile, will try to avoid the three-game sweep with the unbeaten Clay Buchholz starting for them Wednesday.
Doubront did his part in this one but wound up taking a tough-luck loss.
“Not even one mistake, just I threw a good pitch,” he said. “A good hitter put a good swing on it and hit it out of the ballpark.”
He allowed two runs and five hits in six innings and walked two after issuing six in his previous start against Tampa Bay, and he wasn’t even too upset about the pitch Keppinger knocked to the seats.
Quintana (3-1) was simply terrific.
The left-hander struck out five and walked two, and he had the fans thinking they just might be witnessing something special. The roars from the stands grew louder with each out as the game wore on, right until Ortiz’s bat shattered on a bloop single to center with one out in the seventh.
That ended the bid for the 19th no-hitter in White Sox history and the first since Philip Humber’s perfect game at Seattle on April 21 last season.
Two more singles by Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava loaded the bases and ended the night for Quintana, who got a standing ovation as he left the field.
Jesse Crain came on to strike out Will Middlebrooks and Stephen Drew to end that threat, but the Red Sox got a run in the eighth after Matt Thornton walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia leading off and gave up a single to Jacoby Ellsbury. Matt Lindstrom retired pinch-hitter Mike Carp on a fly to left before uncorking a wild pitch, and Saltalamacchia scored from third when shortstop Alexei Ramirez allowed Dustin Pedroia’s hard grounder to go through his legs for an error.
Ortiz then grounded into a double play to end the rally, and Rios added an RBI double with two out in the bottom half to make it a two-run game.
Addison Reed worked the ninth for his 16th save in 17 chances, although Casper Wells had a bit of an adventure in left. He slipped while catching Nava’s fly to warning track for the second out before Middlebrooks ended it with a fly to center, preserving the win for Quintana.
Doubront was almost as effective as Quintana.
He gave up a single to Ramirez on a slow roller toward third with one out in the first and did not allow another hit until the fifth.
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