Charlie Morton pitched seven innings to remain unbeaten since returning from hip surgery and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago White Sox 3-0 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.
Morton (5-0) lowered his ERA to 1.62 after striking out three and walking one and not allowing a batter to reach third base. Mark Melancon worked a perfect ninth for his 21st save.
The Pirates have thrown three straight shutouts and five overall during their six-game run, a stretch in which their starters have allowed all of one earned run.
Francisco Cervelli and Sean Rodriguez hit solo home runs for the Pirates. Starling Marte, who had two hits, is batting .600 (15 for 25) over his last five games.
Jose Quintana (3-7) gave up three runs in six innings and again received little support in his 100th career start. The White Sox have dropped five straight.
Chicago managed all of two hits while getting blanked by Francisco Liriano on Monday night. They weren't any more effective 24 hours later against Morton, who is enjoying the best stretch of his uneven career following a lengthy layoff from hip surgery and some extra time in the minors refining his mechanics.
Morton's new delivery isn't second nature yet, and he admits he spends the first couple of innings trying to refine his motion before settling in.
Chicago Baseball
Chicago's best chance came in the first inning, when Adam Eaton led off with a walk and stole second. Eaton slid past third base on a fielder's choice and was tagged out by Jung Ho Kang. Three batters later Morton was out of the inning and cruising. He retired 11 straight at one point, giving Pittsburgh's offense enough time to solve Quintana.
Quintana's rough start had smoothed out recently. He came in having won his last two starts after being given four runs to work with, a stark contrast to April and May when the White Sox scored one run or less six times when Quintana's spot in the rotation came up.
The Pirates moved in front in the third when Andrew McCutchen drove home Marte with a sharp single to left. Rodriguez added a homer deep into the bleachers in left field with one out in the fourth and Cervelli continued his torrid hitting with a rare show of power, taking a Quintana offering 412 feet for his second home run of the season. Cervelli is hitting .356 since May 1.
